Neural crest emigration: From start to stop

Within the dynamic context of a developing embryo, the multicellular patterns formed are extraordinarily precise. Through cell-cell communication, neighboring progenitors coordinate their activities, sequentially generating distinct tissues. The development of the dorsal neural tube remarkably illustrates this principle. It first generates neural crest (NC) cells, precursors of most of the peripheral nervous system, and then becomes the roof plate (RP) of the central nervous system. While the molecular network regulating emigration of NC progenitors has been extensively studied, the mechanisms by which dorsal neural tube precursors transit from an initial NC fate to a definitive RP identity remain widely open to investigation. Critical differences exist between premigratory NC and RP cells. Whereas the former extensively proliferate and undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition that generates cellular migrations, the latter progressively exit the cell cycle and regain epithelial traits including apico-basal polarity and regeneration of a laminin-containing basement membrane. To understand this transition, the nature of the cross-talk between these two sequentially forming progenitor subsets should be unraveled, including the identity and mode of action of signals that, on the one hand, induce the arrest of NC emigration, and, on the other hand, promote formation of a definitive RP.