... of responsiveness to organizer signals. Axial organization Spemann Body plan Neural induction Organizer Vertebrate embryo In the context of an embryo, an ‘organizer’ refers to a group of cells that harbour the ability to instruct fates and morphogenesis in surrounding cells, steering...

... is autonomously determined by a gene circuit beginning with Sox1/2/3 and Tfap2-r.b in ascidian embryos. TFAP2 Sox1/2/3 Epidermis Ectoderm Neural induction In animal embryos, the ectoderm differentiates into epidermis and neural tissues. In vertebrate embryos, inhibition of bone morphogenetic...

... system: as well as the neuroectoderm lineage, neuromesodermal progenitors contribute to the spinal cord. Neuromesodermal progenitors Wnt FGF Bipotent cells Neural induction Spinal cord Stem cells The vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) is first manifest as an ovoid region...

... target of miR-96 family members via gain- and loss-of-function analyses. Given the essential roles of ZEBs and PAX6 in neural induction, we propose a model by which miR-200 and miR-96 families coordinate to regulate neural induction. Under a chemically defined culture system, hESCs differentiate...

... ) that is transiently expressed in the developing neural plate in a temporal window corresponding to the period of a-lineage neural induction. Using a genetically encoded calcium indicator we observed multiple calcium transients throughout the developing neural plate in wild-type embryos, but not in mutant embryos...

... the nascent anterior border domain at HH5. We also show that concurrent signals from the endodermal layer are necessary to position and sharpen the neural border, and suggest that FGF8 might be a component of this signalling. Neural induction Neural plate Neural border Anterior neural ridge...

...Sei Kuriyama; Roberto Mayor Syndecan-4 (Syn4) is a heparan sulphate proteoglycan that is able to bind to some growth factors, including FGF, and can control cell migration. Here we describe a new role for Syn4 in neural induction in Xenopus . Syn4 is expressed in dorsal ectoderm and becomes...

...Chenbei Chang; Richard M. Harland Vertebrate neural induction requires inhibition of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling in the ectoderm. However, whether inhibition of BMP signaling is sufficient to induce neural tissues in vivo remains controversial. Here we have addressed why inhibition...

... required for neural induction in the mouse. We have analysed the role of BMP signalling in this process. We demonstrate that prior to gastrulation, Bmp2/4 signalling via Bmpr1a maintains epiblast pluripotency and prevents precocious neural differentiation of this tissue, at least in part by maintaining...

... transition of pluripotent embryonic stem cells from self-renewal to lineage commitment. Development 134 , 2895 -2902. Launay, C., Fromentoux, V., Shi, D. L. and Boucaut, J. C. ( 1996 ). A truncated FGF receptor blocks neural induction by endogenous Xenopus inducers. Development 122 , 869 -880...

.... * Authors for correspondence (e-mails: tilo.kunath@ed.ac.uk ; ags39@cscr.cam.ac.uk ) 12 6 2007 © 2007. 2007 Pluripotency Mitogen activated protein kinase Neural induction Epiblast Mesoderm induction Mouse Embryonic stem (ES) cells are immortal cell lines derived from...

... of chordin . * Author for correspondence (e-mail: eweinber@sas.upenn.edu ) 9 6 2006 © 2006. 2006 β-Catenin FGF signaling Dorsal axis formation Neural induction Dorsoventral patterning Anteroposterior patterning Organizer Nodal Chordin Zebrafish FGF signaling...

...-repressing function that is shared by both β-catenin genes. † Author for correspondence (e-mail: eweinber@sas.upenn.edu ) * These authors contributed equally to this work 23 1 2006 © 2006. 2006 β-Catenin Axis formation Neural induction Dorsoventral patterning...

...Emilie Delaune; Patrick Lemaire; Laurent Kodjabachian Neural induction constitutes the first step in the generation of the vertebrate nervous system from embryonic ectoderm. Work with Xenopus ectodermal explants has suggested that epidermis is induced by BMP signals,whereas neural fates arise...

...Claudia Linker; Claudio D. Stern A dominant molecular explanation for neural induction is the `default model', which proposes that the ectoderm is pre-programmed towards a neural fate, but is normally inhibited by endogenous BMPs. Although there is strong evidence favouring this in Xenopus , data...

...., Yamashita, S., Shimizu,T., Solnica-Krezel, L., Hibi, M. and Hirano, T. ( 2000 ). Zebrafish Dkk1 functions in forebrain specification and axial mesendoderm formation. Dev. Biol. 217 , 138 -152. Hongo, I., Kengaku, M. and Okamoto, H. ( 1999 ). FGF signaling and the anterior neural induction...

... suggests that EGF-CFC genes can also activate certain cellular responses independently of nodal signaling. Here, we show that FRL-1 , a Xenopus EGF-CFC gene, suppresses BMP signaling to regulate an early step in neural induction. Overexpression of FRL-1 in animal caps induced the early neural markers zic3...

...., Wunnenberg-Stapleton, K., Hashimoto, C.,Laurent, M. N., Watabe, T., Blumberg, B. W. and Cho, K. W. Y. ( 1995 ). Disruption of BMP signals in embryonic Xenopus ectoderm leads to direct neural induction. Genes Dev. 9 , 2923 -2935. Heasman, J., Crawford, A., Goldstone, K., Garner-Hamrick, P.,Gumbiner, B...

... 10 2002 © 2003. 2003 Ciona MEK FGF ERK Ascidian Tunicate Neural patterning Neural induction In vertebrates, neural tissue was thought to occur by a mechanism, during gastrulation, that inhibited epidermal-promoting factors, allowing neural fates to develop. Recent data...

...), Xemx1 (B,E) or Sox2 (C,F). * Author for correspondence (e-mail: rvignali@dfb.unipi.it ) 7 8 2002 ©2002. 2002 Neural induction Forebrain Telencephalon Organizer Anterior endoderm Cerberus Chordin FGF Xenopus The vertebrate central nervous system (CNS...