Should I stay or should I go? Cadherin function and regulation in the neural crest

Our increasing comprehension of neural crest cell development has reciprocally advanced our understanding of cadherin expression, regulation, and function. As a transient population of multipotent stem cells that significantly contribute to the vertebrate body plan, neural crest cells undergo a variety of transformative processes and exhibit many cellular behaviors, including epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), motility, collective cell migration, and differentiation. Multiple studies have elucidated regulatory and mechanistic details of specific cadherins during neural crest cell development in a highly contextual manner. Collectively, these results reveal that gradual changes within neural crest cells are accompanied by often times subtle, yet important, alterations in cadherin expression and function. The primary focus of this review is to coalesce recent data on cadherins in neural crest cells, from their specification to their emergence as motile cells soon after EMT, and to highlight the complexities of cadherin expression beyond our current perceptions, including the hypothesis that the neural crest EMT is a transition involving a predominantly singular cadherin switch. Further advancements in genetic approaches and molecular techniques will provide greater opportunities to integrate data from various model systems in order to distinguish unique or overlapping functions of cadherins expressed at any point throughout the ontogeny of the neural crest.