Xenopus as a model organism to study heterotrimeric G-protein pathway during collective cell migration of neural crest.
Genesis
; 55(1-2)2017 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28095644
ABSTRACT
Collective cell migration is essential in many fundamental aspects of normal development, like morphogenesis, organ formation, wound healing, and immune responses, as well as in the etiology of severe pathologies, like cancer metastasis. In spite of the huge amount of data accumulated on cell migration, such a complex process involves many molecular actors, some of which still remain to be functionally characterized. One of these signals is the heterotrimeric G-protein pathway that has been studied mainly in gastrulation movements. Recently we have reported that Ric-8A, a GEF for Gα proteins, plays an important role in neural crest migration in Xenopus development. Xenopus neural crest cells, a highly migratory embryonic cell population induced at the border of the neural plate that migrates extensively in order to differentiate in other tissues during development, have become a good model to understand the dynamics that regulate cell migration. In this review, we aim to provide sufficient evidence supporting how useful Xenopus model with its different tools, such as explants and transplants, paired with improved in vivo imaging techniques, will allow us to tackle the multiple signaling mechanisms involved in neural crest cell migration.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Xenopus laevis
/
Cell Movement
/
Heterotrimeric GTP-Binding Proteins
/
Morphogenesis
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Genesis
Journal subject:
BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR
Year:
2017
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Chile