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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Analysis of Neural Crest Migration and Differentiation by Cross-species Transplantation
Published on: February 7, 2012
Gene-regulatory interactions in neural crest evolution and development
Daniel Meulemans1, Marianne Bronner-Fraser
1California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena 91125, USA.
Abstract:
In this review, we outline the gene-regulatory interactions driving neural crest development and compare these to a hypothetical network operating in the embryonic ectoderm of the cephalochordate amphioxus. While the early stages of ectodermal patterning appear conserved between amphioxus and vertebrates, later activation of neural crest-specific factors at the neural plate border appears to be a vertebrate novelty. This difference may reflect co-option of genetic pathways which conferred novel properties upon the evolving vertebrate neural plate border, potentiating the evolution of definitive neural crest.
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