Post-transcriptional tuning of FGF signaling mediates neural crest induction

Ectodermal patterning is required for the establishment of multiple components of the vertebrate body plan. Previous studies have demonstrated that precise combinations of extracellular signals induce distinct ectodermal cell populations, such as the neural crest and the neural plate. Yet, we still...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2020-12, Vol.117 (52), p.33305-33316
Main Authors: Copeland, Jacqueline, Simoes-Costa, Marcos
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological Sciences
Cell Lineage
Chick Embryo
Ectoderm - cytology
Fibroblast Growth Factors - genetics
Fibroblast Growth Factors - metabolism
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
MicroRNAs - genetics
MicroRNAs - metabolism
Models, Biological
Neural Crest - cytology
Neural Crest - metabolism
Ribonuclease III - metabolism
Signal Transduction - genetics
Stem Cells - cytology
Stem Cells - metabolism
Transcription, Genetic
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Ectodermal patterning is required for the establishment of multiple components of the vertebrate body plan. Previous studies have demonstrated that precise combinations of extracellular signals induce distinct ectodermal cell populations, such as the neural crest and the neural plate. Yet, we still lack understanding of how the response to inductive signals is modulated to generate the proper transcriptional output in target cells. Here we show that posttranscriptional attenuation of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling is essential for the establishment of the neural crest territory. We found that neural crest progenitors display elevated expression of DICER, which promotes enhanced maturation of a set of cell-type-specific miRNAs. These miRNAs collectively target components of the FGF signaling pathway, a central player in the process of neural induction in amniotes. Inactivation of this posttranscriptional circuit results in a fate switch, in which neural crest cells are converted into progenitors of the central nervous system. Thus, the posttranscriptional attenuation of signaling systems is a prerequisite for proper segregation of ectodermal cell types. These findings demonstrate how posttranscriptional repression may alter the activity of signaling systems to generate distinct spatial domains of progenitor cells.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2009997117