Characterization of Pax3 and Sox10 transgenic Xenopus laevis embryos as tools to study neural crest development

• Published in: Developmental biology 2018-12, Vol.444 (Suppl 1), p.S202-S208
• Main Authors: Alkobtawi, Mansour, Ray, Heather, Barriga, Elias H, Moreno, Mauricio, Kerney, Ryan, Monsoro-Burq, Anne-Helene, Saint-Jeannet, Jean-Pierre, Mayor, Roberto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified; Cell Differentiation; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental - genetics; Genetic Engineering - methods; Green Fluorescent Proteins; Humans; induction; migration; Neural crest; Neural Crest - embryology; Neural Crest - metabolism; Neural Crest - physiology; Neurogenesis; Pax3; PAX3 Transcription Factor - metabolism; PAX3 Transcription Factor - physiology; Sox10; SOXE Transcription Factors - metabolism; SOXE Transcription Factors - physiology; transgenic; Xenopus laevis - embryology
• ISSN: 0012-1606; 1095-564X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.02.020

The neural crest is a multipotent population of cells that originates a variety of cell types. Many animal models are used to study neural crest induction, migration and differentiation, with amphibians and birds being the most widely used systems. A major technological advance to study neural crest development in mouse, chick and zebrafish has been the generation of transgenic animals in which neural crest specific enhancers/promoters drive the expression of either fluorescent proteins for use as lineage tracers, or modified genes for use in functional studies. Unfortunately, no such transgenic animals currently exist for the amphibians Xenopus laevis and tropicalis, key model systems for studying neural crest development. Here we describe the generation and characterization of two transgenic Xenopus laevis lines, Pax3-GFP and Sox10-GFP, in which GFP is expressed in the pre-migratory and migratory neural crest, respectively. We show that Pax3-GFP could be a powerful tool to study neural crest induction, whereas Sox10-GFP could be used in the study of neural crest migration in living embryos. •Pax3-GFP Xenopus laves transgenic expresses GFP in pre-migratory neural crest•Pax3-GFP Xenopus laevis transgenic responds to Wnt signalling•Sox10-GFP Xenopus laevis transgenic expresses GFP in migrating neural crest•Pax3-GFP and Sox10-GFP Xenopus laevis transgenic represent potential tools to study neural crest induction and migration