New genes in the evolution of the neural crest differentiation program.

New genes in the evolution of the neural crest differentiation program. Research Abstract Details 

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New genes in the evolution of the neural crest differentiation program. Abstract Text:

Juan-Ramon Martinez-Morales,Thorsten Henrich,Mirana Ramialison,Joachim Wittbrodt,

BACKGROUND: Development of the vertebrate head depends on the multipotency and migratory behavior of neural crest derivatives. This cell population is considered a vertebrate innovation and, accordingly, chordate ancestors lacked neural crest counterparts. The identification of neural crest specification genes expressed in the neural plate of basal chordates, in addition to the discovery of pigmented migratory cells in ascidians, has challenged this hypothesis. These new findings revive the debate on what is new and what is ancient in the genetic program that controls neural crest formation. RESULTS: To determine the origin of neural crest genes, we analyzed Phenotype Ontology annotations to select genes that control the development of this tissue. Using a sequential blast pipeline, we phylogenetically classified these genes, as well as those associated with other tissues, in order to define tissue-specific profiles of gene emergence. Of neural crest genes, 9% are vertebrate innovations. Our comparative analyses show that, among different tissues, the neural crest exhibits a particularly high rate of gene emergence during vertebrate evolution. A remarkable proportion of the new neural crest genes encode soluble ligands that control neural crest precursor specification into each cell lineage, including pigmented, neural, glial, and skeletal derivatives. CONCLUSION: We propose that the evolution of the neural crest is linked not only to the recruitment of ancestral regulatory genes but also to the emergence of signaling peptides that control the increasingly complex lineage diversification of this plastic cell population.

New genes in the evolution of the neural crest differentiation program. Publishing Authors By Initials

JR Martinez-Morales,T Henrich,M Ramialison,J Wittbrodt,

For similar peptides: protein sorting signals research abstracts see: peptides: protein sorting signals research

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New genes in the evolution of the neural crest differentiation program. Journal Published:

PUBLICATION TYPE: Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov

Journal: Genome biology

VOLUME: 8

Page Numbers: R36

Journal Abbreviation: Genome Biol.

ISSN: 1465-6914

DAY: 19

MONTH: 11

YEAR: 2007

New genes in the evolution of the neural crest differentiation program. Information

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LANGUAGE: eng

NlmUniqueID: 100960660

New genes in the evolution of the neural crest differentiation program. Keywords Mesh Terms:

KEYWORDS: Protein Sorting Signals

MESH TERMS: genetics

Chemical & Substance for Abstract: New genes in the evolution of the neural crest differentiation program. Information

Substance Name: Protein Sorting Signals

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Grant and Affiliation Information for New genes in the evolution of the neural crest differentiation program.

AFFILIATION: Developmental Biology Unit, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany. Juan.Martinez@EMBL.de

Country: England

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MEDLINETA: Genome Biol

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