Transcriptome profiling of the cardiac neural crest reveals a critical role for MafB

The cardiac neural crest originates in the caudal hindbrain, migrates to the heart, and contributes to septation of the cardiac outflow tract and ventricles, an ability unique to this neural crest subpopulation. Here we have used a FoxD3 neural crest enhancer to isolate a pure population of cardiac neural crest cells for transcriptome analysis. This has led to the identification of transcription factors, signaling receptors/ligands, and cell adhesion molecules upregulated in the early migrating cardiac neural crest. We then functionally tested the role of one of the upregulated transcription factors, MafB, and found that it acts as a regulator of Sox10 expression specifically in the cardiac neural crest. Our results not only reveal the genome-wide profile of early migrating cardiac neural crest cells, but also provide molecular insight into what makes the cardiac neural crest unique.