Making the new heart and gut of vertebrates via the neural crest

Neural crest cells are multipotent, migratory stem cells that form at the neural plate border in vertebrate embryos. They then migrate from the neural tube along defined pathways, populate numerous sites and differentiate into diverse cell types.  However, neural crest populations differ along the neural axis; e.g. only cranial neural crest cells give rise to cartilage and bone of the face, and only cardiac/vagal neural crest cells contribute to the heart and enteric nervous system.   We have performed transcriptome analysis of these different neural crest populations to identify gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that confer axial level specific identify to different neural crest cell populations.  By characterizing the function of transcriptional and signaling components in these neural crest GRNs, we aim to understand the steps that define the neural crest from the time of induction at the neural plate border to their differentiation into diverse cell types along the body axis and during vertebrate evolution.