Neural crest cells organize the eye via TGF-β and canonical Wnt signalling

Timothy Grocott; Samuel Johnson; Andrew P. Bailey; Andrea Streit

doi:10.1038/ncomms1269

Neural crest cells organize the eye via TGF-β and canonical Wnt signalling

Timothy Grocott, Samuel Johnson, Andrew P. Bailey, Andrea Streit

Centre for Craniofacial & Regenerative Biology

King's College London

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

67 Citations (Scopus)

165 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In vertebrates, the lens and retina arise from different embryonic tissues raising the question of how they are aligned to form a functional eye. Neural crest cells are crucial for this process: in their absence, ectopic lenses develop far from the retina. Here we show, using the chick as a model system, that neural crest-derived transforming growth factor-βs activate both Smad3 and canonical Wnt signalling in the adjacent ectoderm to position the lens next to the retina. They do so by controlling Pax6 activity: although Smad3 may inhibit Pax6 protein function, its sustained downregulation requires transcriptional repression by Wnt-initiated β-catenin. We propose that the same neural crest-dependent signalling mechanism is used repeatedly to integrate different components of the eye and suggest a general role for the neural crest in coordinating central and peripheral parts of the sensory nervous system.

Original language	English
Article number	265
Number of pages	6
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	2
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1269
Publication status	Published - 2011

Access to Document

10.1038/ncomms1269

grocott_Nature Comms 2011_PubFinal published version, 0.98 MB

Cite this

@article{1ca2e1b88915405da935ff070d1b8d0d,

title = "Neural crest cells organize the eye via TGF-β and canonical Wnt signalling",

abstract = "In vertebrates, the lens and retina arise from different embryonic tissues raising the question of how they are aligned to form a functional eye. Neural crest cells are crucial for this process: in their absence, ectopic lenses develop far from the retina. Here we show, using the chick as a model system, that neural crest-derived transforming growth factor-βs activate both Smad3 and canonical Wnt signalling in the adjacent ectoderm to position the lens next to the retina. They do so by controlling Pax6 activity: although Smad3 may inhibit Pax6 protein function, its sustained downregulation requires transcriptional repression by Wnt-initiated β-catenin. We propose that the same neural crest-dependent signalling mechanism is used repeatedly to integrate different components of the eye and suggest a general role for the neural crest in coordinating central and peripheral parts of the sensory nervous system.",

author = "Timothy Grocott and Samuel Johnson and Bailey, {Andrew P.} and Andrea Streit",

year = "2011",

doi = "10.1038/ncomms1269",

language = "English",

volume = "2",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Neural crest cells organize the eye via TGF-β and canonical Wnt signalling

AU - Grocott, Timothy

AU - Johnson, Samuel

AU - Bailey, Andrew P.

AU - Streit, Andrea

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - In vertebrates, the lens and retina arise from different embryonic tissues raising the question of how they are aligned to form a functional eye. Neural crest cells are crucial for this process: in their absence, ectopic lenses develop far from the retina. Here we show, using the chick as a model system, that neural crest-derived transforming growth factor-βs activate both Smad3 and canonical Wnt signalling in the adjacent ectoderm to position the lens next to the retina. They do so by controlling Pax6 activity: although Smad3 may inhibit Pax6 protein function, its sustained downregulation requires transcriptional repression by Wnt-initiated β-catenin. We propose that the same neural crest-dependent signalling mechanism is used repeatedly to integrate different components of the eye and suggest a general role for the neural crest in coordinating central and peripheral parts of the sensory nervous system.

AB - In vertebrates, the lens and retina arise from different embryonic tissues raising the question of how they are aligned to form a functional eye. Neural crest cells are crucial for this process: in their absence, ectopic lenses develop far from the retina. Here we show, using the chick as a model system, that neural crest-derived transforming growth factor-βs activate both Smad3 and canonical Wnt signalling in the adjacent ectoderm to position the lens next to the retina. They do so by controlling Pax6 activity: although Smad3 may inhibit Pax6 protein function, its sustained downregulation requires transcriptional repression by Wnt-initiated β-catenin. We propose that the same neural crest-dependent signalling mechanism is used repeatedly to integrate different components of the eye and suggest a general role for the neural crest in coordinating central and peripheral parts of the sensory nervous system.

U2 - 10.1038/ncomms1269

DO - 10.1038/ncomms1269

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 2

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 4

M1 - 265

ER -

Neural crest cells organize the eye via TGF-β and canonical Wnt signalling

Abstract

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this