Study of cranial neural crest development in Xenopus tropicalis
Date
2018
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The neural crest is a species of multipotent stem cells in vertebrates. It is an ectodermal derivative and is of immense interest to developmental biologists due to its far-reaching migratory capabilities along with the ability to differentiate into multiple cell types such as those of craniofacial skeleton, peripheral ganglia, melanocytes and connective tissue for which it is sometimes also termed as the fourth germ layer. Understanding the development of neural crest is essential as defects during neural crest development can give rise to a variety of disorders such as cleft lip and palate, congenital heart defects, and cancers such as neuroblastoma.
During neural crest induction, ADAM13 (A Disintegrin and Metalloprotease 13) initiates Wnt signaling from the paraxial mesoderm which is essential to the process. Overexpression of ADAM13 showed a downregulation of ZNF238, a muscle, and neural stem cell differentiation factor. In embryos with a ZNF238 knockdown, we also observed reduction in the size of craniofacial structures, suggesting its involvement in CNC development. The first part of this study aims to understand how ZNF238 plays a role in the development of CNC, specifically during induction.
The second part of this thesis discusses the construction of a Snai2:mEos3.2 reporter line as an upgrade to the existing Snai2:egfp line which was previously generated in our lab to facilitate live imaging of neural crest development. mEos3.2 is a photoconvertible protein that emits green fluorescence which changes to red after being exposed to UV light and undergoing an irreversible photoconversion of the chromophore. We plan to target the fluorescent neural crest during migration and track cell lineage through later stages. Using this technique, we are hopeful that we will discover previously unidentified tissues and cell types with neural crest contribution.