QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by del Barrio, M. G. Articles by Nieto, M. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by del Barrio, M. G. Articles by Nieto, M. A. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Overexpression of Snail family members highlights their ability to promote chick neural crest formation

Instituto Cajal, CSIC, Doctor Arce, 37 28002 Madrid, Spain

*Author for correspondence (e-mail: anieto{at}cajal.csic.es)

Accepted 14 January 2002

The Snail gene family of transcription factors plays crucial roles in different morphogenetic processes during the development of vertebrate and invertebrate embryos. In previous studies of function interference for one of the family members, Slug, we showed its involvement and neural crest formation in the chick embryo. Now we have carried out a series of gain-of-function experiments in which we show that Slug overexpression in the neural tube of the chick embryo induces an increase in neural crest production. The analysis of electroporated embryos shows that Slug can induce the expression of rhoB and an increase in the number of HNK-1-positive migratory cells, indicating that it lies upstream of them in the genetic cascade of neural crest development. The increase in neural crest production after Slug overexpression was confined to the cranial region, indicating that the mechanisms of crest induction somehow differ between head and trunk.

The expression of the two vertebrate family members, Slug and Snail, is peculiar with respect to the neural crest. Slug is not expressed in the premigratory crest in the mouse, whereas it is expressed in this cell population in the chick and the opposite is true for Snail (
Sefton, M., Sánchez, S. and Nieto M. A. (1998) Development 125, 3111-3121). This raises the question of whether they can be functionally equivalent. To test this hypothesis both intra- and interspecies, we have performed a series of ectopic expression experiments by electroporating chick and mouse Snail in the chick embryo hindbrain. We observe that both genes elicit the same responses in the neural tube. Our results indicate that they can be functionally equivalent, although the embryos show a higher response to the endogenous gene, chick Slug.

Key words: Neural crest, Slug, Snail, RhoB, Chick, Functional equivalence, Epithelial-mesenchymal transition, DiI labelling, In ovo electroporation

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

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Fernandez-Martinez, E. M. Vela, M. Tora-Ponsioen, O. H. Ocana, M. A. Nieto, and J. Galceran Attenuation of Notch signalling by the Down-syndrome-associated kinase DYRK1A J. Cell Sci., May 15, 2009; 122(10): 1574 - 1583. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Kuriyama and R. Mayor Molecular analysis of neural crest migration Phil Trans R Soc B, April 12, 2008; 363(1495): 1349 - 1362. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Choi, S. Y. Park, and C.-K. Joo Transforming Growth Factor-{beta}1 Represses E-Cadherin Production via Slug Expression in Lens Epithelial Cells Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., June 1, 2007; 48(6): 2708 - 2718. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. A. Taneyhill, E. G. Coles, and M. Bronner-Fraser Snail2 directly represses cadherin6B during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions of the neural crest Development, April 15, 2007; 134(8): 1481 - 1490. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. J. Christiansen and A. K. Rajasekaran Reassessing Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition as a Prerequisite for Carcinoma Invasion and Metastasis. Cancer Res., September 1, 2006; 66(17): 8319 - 8326. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. E. Vernon and C. LaBonne Slug stability is dynamically regulated during neural crest development by the F-box protein Ppa Development, September 1, 2006; 133(17): 3359 - 3370. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. Sakai, T. Suzuki, N. Osumi, and Y. Wakamatsu Cooperative action of Sox9, Snail2 and PKA signaling in early neural crest development Development, April 1, 2006; 133(7): 1323 - 1333. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. A. Perez-Mancera, M. Perez-Caro, I. Gonzalez-Herrero, T. Flores, A. Orfao, A. G. de Herreros, A. Gutierrez-Adan, B. Pintado, A. Sagrera, M. Sanchez-Martin, et al. Cancer development induced by graded expression of Snail in mice Hum. Mol. Genet., November 15, 2005; 14(22): 3449 - 3461. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Barrallo-Gimeno and M. A. Nieto The Snail genes as inducers of cell movement and survival: implications in development and cancer Development, July 15, 2005; 132(14): 3151 - 3161. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. J. Morgan, J. M. Woltering, P. M. J. In der Rieden, A. J. Durston, and J. P. Thiery YY1 Regulates the Neural Crest-associated slug Gene in Xenopus laevis J. Biol. Chem., November 5, 2004; 279(45): 46826 - 46834. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Burstyn-Cohen, J. Stanleigh, D. Sela-Donenfeld, and C. Kalcheim Canonical Wnt activity regulates trunk neural crest delamination linking BMP/noggin signaling with G1/S transition Development, November 1, 2004; 131(21): 5327 - 5339. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Perez-Alcala, M. A. Nieto, and J. A. Barbas LSox5 regulates RhoB expression in the neural tube and promotes generation of the neural crest Development, September 15, 2004; 131(18): 4455 - 4465. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. Causeret, M. Hidalgo-Sanchez, P. Fort, S. Backer, M.-R. Popoff, C. Gauthier-Rouviere, and E. Bloch-Gallego Distinct roles of Rac1/Cdc42 and Rho/Rock for axon outgrowth and nucleokinesis of precerebellar neurons toward netrin 1 Development, June 15, 2004; 131(12): 2841 - 2852. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Vega, A. V. Morales, O. H. Ocana, F. Valdes, I. Fabregat, and M. A. Nieto Snail blocks the cell cycle and confers resistance to cell death Genes & Dev., May 15, 2004; 18(10): 1131 - 1143. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Cheung and J. Briscoe Neural crest development is regulated by the transcription factor Sox9 Development, December 1, 2003; 130(23): 5681 - 5693. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. D. Knight, S. Nair, S. S. Nelson, A. Afshar, Y. Javidan, R. Geisler, G.-J. Rauch, and T. F. Schilling lockjaw encodes a zebrafish tfap2a required for early neural crest development Development, December 1, 2003; 130(23): 5755 - 5768. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. J. Aybar, M. A. Nieto, and R. Mayor Snail precedes Slug in the genetic cascade required for the specification and migration of the Xenopus neural crest Development, February 1, 2003; 130(3): 483 - 494. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. Bolos, H. Peinado, M. A. Perez-Moreno, M. F. Fraga, M. Esteller, and A. Cano The transcription factor Slug represses E-cadherin expression and induces epithelial to mesenchymal transitions: a comparison with Snail and E47 repressors J. Cell Sci., February 1, 2003; 116(3): 499 - 511. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Locascio, M. Manzanares, M. J. Blanco, and M. A. Nieto Modularity and reshuffling of Snail and Slug expression during vertebrate evolution PNAS, December 24, 2002; 99(26): 16841 - 16846. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]