Epigenetic regulation in neural crest development

Abstract

The neural crest is a migratory and multipotent cell population that plays a crucial role in many aspects of embryonic development. In all vertebrate embryos, these cells emerge from the dorsal neural tube then migrate long distances to different regions of the body, where they contribute to formation of many cell types and structures. These include much of the peripheral nervous system, craniofacial skeleton, smooth muscle, and pigmentation of the skin. The best-studied regulatory events guiding neural crest development are mediated by transcription factors and signaling molecules. In recent years, however, growing evidence supports an important role for epigenetic regulation as an additional mechanism for controlling the timing and level of gene expression at different stages of neural crest development. Here, we summarize the process of neural crest formation, with focus on the role of epigenetic regulation in neural crest specification, migration, and differentiation as well as in neural crest related birth defects and diseases.

Keywords: Development; Epigenetic; Neural crest.

Figure 1

Schematic diagram of the different epigenetic marks identified on histone H3 and DNA and their respective “writer”, “eraser” and “reader” proteins. Histone methylations on red and green are associated with transcriptional repression and activation, respectively. TETs, Ten-Eleven translocation enzymes; DNMTs, DNA methyltransferases; HATs, histone acetyltransferases; HDACs, histone deacetylases; HMTs, histone methyltransferases; and HDMTs, histone demethylases.

Figure 2

Transverse section through a chick embryo stained with an antibody to the H3K9me3 mark (red) illustrates variation in the abundance of the mark between premigratory neural crest, at the dorsal aspect of the neural tube, and the ventral neural tube progenitors. After neural crest migration, evidenced by the HNK-1 marker (in blue), none of those highly abundant H3K9me3 positive cells are observed on the entire neural tube (unpublished data).