Evidence for collapsin-1 functioning in the control of neural crest migration in both trunk and hindbrain regions

Development ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 126 (10) ◽  
pp. 2181-2189 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.J. Eickholt ◽  
S.L. Mackenzie ◽  
A. Graham ◽  
F.S. Walsh ◽  
P. Doherty

Collapsin-1 belongs to the Semaphorin family of molecules, several members of which have been implicated in the co-ordination of axon growth and guidance. Collapsin-1 can function as a selective chemorepellent for sensory neurons, however, its early expression within the somites and the cranial neural tube (Shepherd, I., Luo, Y., Raper, J. A. and Chang, S. (1996) Dev. Biol. 173, 185–199) suggest that it might contribute to the control of additional developmental processes in the chick. We now report a detailed study on the expression of collapsin-1 as well as on the distribution of collapsin-1-binding sites in regions where neural crest cell migration occurs. collapsin-1 expression is detected in regions bordering neural crest migration pathways in both the trunk and hindbrain regions and a receptor for collapsin-1, neuropilin-1, is expressed by migrating crest cells derived from both regions. When added to crest cells in vitro, a collapsin-1-Fc chimeric protein induces morphological changes similar to those seen in neuronal growth cones. In order to test the function of collapsin-1 on the migration of neural crest cells, an in vitro assay was used in which collapsin-1-Fc was immobilised in alternating stripes consisting of collapsin-Fc/fibronectin versus fibronectin alone. Explanted neural crest cells derived from both trunk and hindbrain regions avoided the collapsin-Fc-containing substratum. These results suggest that collapsin-1 signalling can contribute to the patterning of neural crest cell migration in the developing chick.

1986 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 432-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
R B Runyan ◽  
G D Maxwell ◽  
B D Shur

Migrating embryonic cells have high levels of cell surface galactosyltransferase (GalTase) activity. It has been proposed that GalTase participates during migration by recognizing and binding to terminal N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) residues on glycoconjugates within the extracellular matrix (Shur, B. D., 1982, Dev. Biol. 91:149-162). We tested this hypothesis using migrating neural crest cells as an in vitro model system. Cell surface GalTase activity was perturbed using three independent sets of reagents, and the effects on cell migration were analyzed by time-lapse microphotography. The GalTase modifier protein, alpha-lactalbumin (alpha-LA), was used to inhibit surface GalTase binding to terminal GlcNAc residues in the underlying substrate. alpha-LA inhibited neural crest cell migration on basal lamina-like matrices in a dose-dependent manner, while under identical conditions, alpha-LA had no effect on cell migration on fibronectin. Control proteins, such as lysozyme (structurally homologous to alpha-LA) and bovine serum albumin, did not effect migration on either matrix. Second, the addition of competitive GalTase substrates significantly inhibited neural crest cell migration on basal lamina-like matrices, but as above, had no effect on migration on fibronectin. Comparable concentrations of inappropriate sugars also had no effect on cell migration. Third, addition of the GalTase catalytic substrate, UDPgalactose, produced a dose-dependent increase in the rate of cell migration. Under identical conditions, the inappropriate sugar nucleotide, UDPglucose, had no effect. Quantitative enzyme assays confirmed the presence of GalTase substrates in basal lamina matrices, their absence in fibronectin matrices, and the ability of alpha-LA to inhibit GalTase activity towards basal lamina substrates. Laminin was found to be a principle GalTase substrate in the basal lamina, and when tested in vitro, alpha-LA inhibited cell migration on laminin. Together, these experiments show that neural crest cells have at least two distinct mechanisms for interacting with the substrate during migration, one that is fibronectin-dependent and one that uses GalTase recognition of basal lamina glycoconjugates.


Development ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 129 (2) ◽  
pp. 433-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Trainor ◽  
Dorothy Sobieszczuk ◽  
David Wilkinson ◽  
Robb Krumlauf

Cranial neural crest cells are a pluripotent population of cells derived from the neural tube that migrate into the branchial arches to generate the distinctive bone, connective tissue and peripheral nervous system components characteristic of the vertebrate head. The highly conserved segmental organisation of the vertebrate hindbrain plays an important role in pattering the pathways of neural crest cell migration and in generating the distinct or separate streams of crest cells that form unique structures in each arch. We have used focal injections of DiI into the developing mouse hindbrain in combination with in vitro whole embryo culture to map the patterns of cranial neural crest cell migration into the developing branchial arches. Our results show that mouse hindbrain-derived neural crest cells migrate in three segregated streams adjacent to the even-numbered rhombomeres into the branchial arches, and each stream contains contributions of cells from three rhombomeres in a pattern very similar to that observed in the chick embryo. There are clear neural crest-free zones adjacent to r3 and r5. Furthermore, using grafting and lineage-tracing techniques in cultured mouse embryos to investigate the differential ability of odd and even-numbered segments to generate neural crest cells, we find that odd and even segments have an intrinsic ability to produce equivalent numbers of neural crest cells. This implies that inter-rhombomeric signalling is less important than combinatorial interactions between the hindbrain and the adjacent arch environment in specific regions, in the process of restricting the generation and migration of neural crest cells. This creates crest-free territories and suggests that tissue interactions established during development and patterning of the branchial arches may set up signals that the neural plate is primed to interpret during the progressive events leading to the delamination and migration of neural crest cells. Using interspecies grafting experiments between mouse and chick embryos, we have shown that this process forms part of a conserved mechanism for generating neural crest-free zones and contributing to the separation of migrating crest populations with distinct Hox expression during vertebrate head development.


Development ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 237-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.J. Mackie ◽  
R.P. Tucker ◽  
W. Halfter ◽  
R. Chiquet-Ehrismann ◽  
H.H. Epperlein

The distribution of the extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoprotein, tenascin, has been compared with that of fibronectin in neural crest migration pathways of Xenopus laevis, quail and rat embryos. In all species studied, the distribution of tenascin, examined by immunohistochemistry, was more closely correlated with pathways of migration than that of fibronectin, which is known to be important for neural crest migration. In Xenopus laevis embryos, anti-tenascin stained the dorsal fin matrix and ECM along the ventral route of migration, but not the ECM found laterally between the ectoderma and somites where neural crest cells do not migrate. In quail embryos, the appearance of tenascin in neural crest pathways was well correlated with the anterior-to-posterior wave of migration. The distribution of tenascin within somites was compared with that of the neural crest marker, HNK-1, in quail embryos. In the dorsal halves of quail somites which contained migrating neural crest cells, the predominant tenascin staining was in the anterior halves of the somites, codistributed with the migrating cells. In rat embryos, tenascin was detectable in the somites only in the anterior halves. Tenascin was not detectable in the matrix of cultured quail neural crest cells, but was in the matrix surrounding somite and notochord cells in vitro. Neural crest cells cultured on a substratum of tenascin did not spread and were rounded. We propose that tenascin is an important factor controlling neural crest morphogenesis, perhaps by modifying the interaction of neural crest cells with fibronectin.


Development ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 121 (8) ◽  
pp. 2303-2312 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.M. Landolt ◽  
L. Vaughan ◽  
K.H. Winterhalter ◽  
D.R. Zimmermann

Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans have been implicated in the regulation of cell migration and pattern formation in the developing peripheral nervous system. To identify whether the large aggregating proteoglycan versican might be mediating these processes, we prepared monospecific antibodies against a recombinant core protein fragment of chick versican. The purified antibodies recognize the predominant versican splice-variants V0 and V1. Using these antibodies, we revealed a close correlation between the spacio-temporal expression of versican and the formation of molecular boundaries flanking or transiently blocking the migration pathways of neural crest cells or motor and sensory axons. Versican is present in the caudal sclerotome, the early dorsolateral tissue underneath the ectoderm, the pelvic girdle precursor and to a certain extent in the perinotochordal mesenchyme. Versican is completely absent from tissues invaded by neural crest cells and extending axons. Upon completion of neural crest cell migration and axon outgrowth, versican expression is shifted to pre-chondrogenic areas. Since versican inhibits cellular interactions with fibronectin, laminin and collagen I in vitro, the selective expression of versican within barrier tissues may be linked to a functional role of versican in the guidance of migratory neural crest cells and outgrowing axons.


Development ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 743-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.H. Epperlein ◽  
W. Halfter ◽  
R.P. Tucker

It is generally assumed that in amphibian embryos neural crest cells migrate dorsally, where they form the mesenchyme of the dorsal fin, laterally (between somites and epidermis), where they give rise to pigment cells, and ventromedially (between somites and neural tube), where they form the elements of the peripheral nervous system. While there is agreement about the crest migratory routes in the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), different opinions exist about the lateral pathway in Xenopus. We investigated neural crest cell migration in Xenopus (stages 23, 32, 35/36 and 41) using the X. laevis-X. borealis nuclear marker system and could not find evidence for cells migrating laterally. We have also used immunohistochemistry to study the distribution of the extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoproteins fibronectin (FN) and tenascin (TN), which have been implicated in directing neural crest cells during their migrations in avian and mammalian embryos, in the neural crest migratory pathways of Xenopus and the axolotl. In premigratory stages of the crest, both in Xenopus (stage 22) and the axolotl (stage 25), FN was found subepidermally and in extracellular spaces around the neural tube, notochord and somites. The staining was particularly intense in the dorsal part of the embryo, but it was also present along the visceral and parietal layers of the lateral plate mesoderm. TN, in contrast, was found only in the anterior trunk mesoderm in Xenopus; in the axolotl, it was absent. During neural crest cell migration in Xenopus (stages 25–33) and the axolotl (stages 28–35), anti-FN stained the ECM throughout the embryo, whereas anti-TN staining was limited to dorsal regions. There it was particularly intense medially, i.e. in the dorsal fin, around the neural tube, notochord, dorsal aorta and at the medial surface of the somites (stage 35 in both species). During postmigratory stages in Xenopus (stage 40), anti-FN staining was less intense than anti-TN staining. In culture, axolotl neural crest cells spread differently on FN- and TN-coated substrata. On TN, the onset of cellular outgrowth was delayed for about 1 day, but after 3 days the extent of outgrowth was indistinguishable from cultures grown on FN. However, neural crest cells in 3-day-old cultures were much more flattened on FN than on TN. We conclude that both FN and TN are present in the ECM that lines the neural crest migratory pathways of amphibian embryos at the time when the neural crest cells are actively migrating. FN is present in the embryonic ECM before the onset of neural crest migration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


1984 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 1822-1830 ◽  
Author(s):  
J C Boucaut ◽  
T Darribère ◽  
T J Poole ◽  
H Aoyama ◽  
K M Yamada ◽  
...  

We describe a new method for analyzing embryonic events dependent on a specific peptide recognition signal. A short, specific amino acid sequence in fibronectin has been implicated as a recognition site in fibronectin-mediated interactions. Fibroblast adhesion to fibronectin is competitively inhibited by certain synthetic peptides, including the decapeptide Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser-Pro-Ala-Ser-Ser-Lys-Pro, which appears to contain the cell recognition sequence. We found that this peptide inhibited both amphibian gastrulation and avian neural crest cell migration in vivo, as well as the attachment and migration of neural crest cells in vitro. These processes are major cell migratory events previously suggested to involve fibronectin. Negative controls included another conserved fibronectin peptide from the collagen-binding region containing the sequence Cys-Gln-Asp-Ser-Glu-Thr-Arg-Thr-Phe-Tyr and another peptide. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of using synthetic peptides directed at recognition sites in extracellular proteins as probes of morphogenetic processes, and they provide further support for the hypothesis that fibronectin is involved in gastrulation and neural crest cell migration.


Development ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 127 (6) ◽  
pp. 1161-1172 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.M. Kulesa ◽  
S.E. Fraser

Hindbrain neural crest cells were labeled with DiI and followed in ovo using a new approach for long-term time-lapse confocal microscopy. In ovo imaging allowed us to visualize neural crest cell migration 2–3 times longer than in whole embryo explant cultures, providing a more complete picture of the dynamics of cell migration from emergence at the dorsal midline to entry into the branchial arches. There were aspects of the in ovo neural crest cell migration patterning which were new and different. Surprisingly, there was contact between neural crest cell migration streams bound for different branchial arches. This cell-cell contact occurred in the region lateral to the otic vesicle, where neural crest cells within the distinct streams diverted from their migration pathways into the branchial arches and instead migrated around the otic vesicle to establish a contact between streams. Some individual neural crest cells did appear to cross between the streams, but there was no widespread mixing. Analysis of individual cell trajectories showed that neural crest cells emerge from all rhombomeres (r) and sort into distinct exiting streams adjacent to the even-numbered rhombomeres. Neural crest cell migration behaviors resembled the wide diversity seen in whole embryo chick explants, including chain-like cell arrangements; however, average in ovo cell speeds are as much as 70% faster. To test to what extent neural crest cells from adjoining rhombomeres mix along migration routes and within the branchial arches, separate groups of premigratory neural crest cells were labeled with DiI or DiD. Results showed that r6 and r7 neural crest cells migrated to the same spatial location within the fourth branchial arch. The diversity of migration behaviors suggests that no single mechanism guides in ovo hindbrain neural crest cell migration into the branchial arches. The cell-cell contact between migration streams and the co-localization of neural crest cells from adjoining rhombomeres within a single branchial arch support the notion that the pattern of hindbrain neural crest cell migration emerges dynamically with cell-cell communication playing an important guidance role.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (20) ◽  
pp. 7807
Author(s):  
Bi Ning Zhang ◽  
Yu Liu ◽  
Qichen Yang ◽  
Pui Ying Leung ◽  
Chengdong Wang ◽  
...  

Previously, we identified RAD21R450C from a peripheral sclerocornea pedigree. Injection of this rad21 variant mRNA into Xenopus laevis embryos disrupted the organization of corneal stroma fibrils. To understand the mechanisms of RAD21-mediated corneal stroma defects, gene expression and chromosome conformation analysis were performed using cells from family members affected by peripheral sclerocornea. Both gene expression and chromosome conformation of cell adhesion genes were affected in cells carrying the heterozygous rad21 variant. Since cell migration is essential in early embryonic development and sclerocornea is a congenital disease, we studied neural crest migration during cornea development in X. laevis embryos. In X. laevis embryos injected with rad21 mutant mRNA, neural crest migration was disrupted, and the number of neural crest-derived periocular mesenchymes decreased significantly in the corneal stroma region. Our data indicate that the RAD21R450C variant contributes to peripheral sclerocornea by modifying chromosome conformation and gene expression, therefore disturbing neural crest cell migration, which suggests RAD21 plays a key role in corneal stroma development.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ezra Lencer ◽  
Rytis Prekeris ◽  
Kristin Artinger

The immunoglobin superfamily members cdon and boc are transmembrane proteins implicated in regulating hedgehog signaling during vertebrate development. Recent work showing roles for these genes in axon guidance and neural crest cell migration further suggest that cdon/boc may play additional functions in regulating directed cell movements during development. Here we use novel and existing mutants to investigate a role for cdon and boc in zebrafish neural crest cell migration. We find that single cdon or boc mutant embryos exhibit normal neural crest phenotypes, but that neural crest migration is strikingly disrupted in double cdon/boc mutant embryos. We further show that this neural crest migration phenotype is associated with defects to the differentiation of slow-twitch muscle cells, and that this slow-twitch muscle phenotype is a consequence of reduced hedgehog signaling in mutant fish. While neural crest migratory ability is not affected in double mutant embryos, neural crest directionality is severely affected. These data suggest that neural crest migration defects are likely to be secondary to defects in slow-twitch muscle differentiation. Combined, our data add to a growing literature showing that cdon and boc act synergistically to promote hedgehog signaling during vertebrate development, and provide a foundation for using zebrafish to further study the function of these hedgehog receptor paralogs.


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