JCB logo
R&D Systems
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
Published 9 December 2002. doi:10.1083/jcb.200209039
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow PDF (Full Text)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JCB
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hari, L.
Right arrow Articles by Sommer, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hari, L.
Right arrow Articles by Sommer, L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/2002/12/867 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 159, Number 5, 867-880

Article

 Lineage-specific requirements of ß-catenin in neural crest development

Lisette Hari1, Véronique Brault2, Maurice Kléber1, Hye-Youn Lee1, Fabian Ille1, Rainer Leimeroth1, Christian Paratore1, Ueli Suter1, Rolf Kemler2 and Lukas Sommer1

1 Institute of Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
2 Department of Molecular Embryology, Max-Planck Institute of Immunobiology, D-79108 Freiburg, Germany

Address correspondence to Lukas Sommer, Institute of Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH-Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland. Tel.: 41-1-633-33-49. Fax: 41-1-633-11-90. E-mail: sommer{at}cell.biol.ethz.ch

ß-Catenin plays a pivotal role in cadherin-mediated cell adhesion. Moreover, it is a downstream signaling component of Wnt that controls multiple developmental processes such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, and fate decisions. To study the role of ß-catenin in neural crest development, we used the Cre/loxP system to ablate ß-catenin specifically in neural crest stem cells. Although several neural crest–derived structures develop normally, mutant animals lack melanocytes and dorsal root ganglia (DRG). In vivo and in vitro analyses revealed that mutant neural crest cells emigrate but fail to generate an early wave of sensory neurogenesis that is normally marked by the transcription factor neurogenin (ngn) 2. This indicates a role of ß-catenin in premigratory or early migratory neural crest and points to heterogeneity of neural crest cells at the earliest stages of crest development. In addition, migratory neural crest cells lateral to the neural tube do not aggregate to form DRG and are unable to produce a later wave of sensory neurogenesis usually marked by the transcription factor ngn1. We propose that the requirement of ß-catenin for the specification of melanocytes and sensory neuronal lineages reflects roles of ß-catenin both in Wnt signaling and in mediating cell–cell interactions.

Key Words: ß-catenin; Wnt; cadherin; melanocytes; sensory neurons


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:



  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents