Hijacking Of Neural Crest Genes

Main Category: Genetics
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 19 Jun 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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In vertebrates, the peripheral nervous system and the craniofacial skeleton develop from a specific set of cells, known as neural crest cells.

In this report, researchers in the laboratory of Dr. Marianne Bronner-Fraser at the California Institute of Technology have used the amphioxus genome sequence to investigate how this vertebrate-specific cell type evolved from an invertebrate ancestor.

The group found genes in amphioxus that are similar to vertebrate genes related to neural crest cells, however in cephalochordates they are used for other functions.

This finding raises the intriguing possibility that during vertebrate evolution, these genes may have "hijacked" for the development of neural crest cells.

Reference:
"Insights from the amphioxus genome on the origin of vertebrate neural crest."
Yu, J.-K., Meulemans, D., McKeown, S., and Bronner-Fraser, M.
Genome Res. doi:10.1101/gr.076208.108

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