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The role of chemotaxis in neural crest migration

Neural crest (NC) cells travel long distances throughout the embryo to reach precise target sites and contribute to many tissues including the peripheral nervous system. During peripheral nervous system development, a common pool of NC cells is distributed into two functionally discrete structures, the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and sympathetic ganglia (SG), yet it has remained unclear how cells are driven to these targets and differentiate into appropriate cell types. We will show that this patterning is due in part to differential expression of the chemokine receptor, CXCR4. We will present evidence that 1) a distinct subset of ventrally‐migrating NC cells express CXCR4 and this subset is destined to form the neural core of the SG and 2) the CXCR4 ligand, SDF‐1, is a chemoattractant for NC cells in vivo, and is expressed adjacent to the future SG. Reduction of CXCR4 expression in NC cells disrupts their migration towards the future SG while overexpression of CXCR4 in non‐SG destined NC cells induces them to migrate aberrantly towards the SG. These data demonstrate a major role for chemotaxis in the patterning of trunk NC cell migration.