Neural crest origin of sympathetic neurons at the dawn of vertebrates.

ABSTRACT: The neural crest is an embryonic stem cell population unique to vertebrates¹ whose expansion and diversification are thought to have promoted vertebrate evolution by enabling emergence of new cell types and structures such as jaws and peripheral ganglia². Although jawless vertebrates have sensory ganglia, convention has it that trunk sympathetic chain ganglia arose only in jawed vertebrates^3-8. Here, by contrast, we report the presence of trunk sympathetic neurons in the sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, an extant jawless vertebrate. These neurons arise from sympathoblasts near the dorsal aorta that undergo noradrenergic specification through a transcriptional program homologous to that described in gnathostomes. Lamprey sympathoblasts populate the extracard

SUBMITTER: Edens BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11391089 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature