ELSC Seminar Series

The separation between central and peripheral branches of the nervous system (CNS and PNS), takes place in the dorsal domain of the neural tube (NT), offering a prototypic example of lineage segregation during development. This domain sequentially generates neural crest cells (NC), progenitors of the PNS, followed by formation of the definitive roof plate (RP) of the CNS, which is bordered by dorsal interneurons. Our understanding of the formation and differentiation of Neural crest cells is progressively evolving. However, the mechanisms responsible for lineage separation of NC-derived cell types, of NC from RP, and RP from adjacent dorsal interneurons, remain challenging questions at the experimental level given the rapid temporal dynamics of these processes. By implementing gene misexpression approaches in avian and mouse embryos in combination with scRNA seq and imaging techniques, we began elucidating the molecular networks responsible for the above processes.