Nervous System Regionalization Entails Axial Allocation before Neural Differentiation.

ABSTRACT: Neural induction in vertebrates generates a CNS that extends the rostral-caudal length of the body. The prevailing view is that neural cells are initially induced with anterior (forebrain) identity; caudalizing signals then convert a proportion to posterior fates (spinal cord). To test this model, we used chromatin accessibility to define how cells adopt region-specific neural fates. Together with genetic and biochemical perturbations, this identified a developmental time window in which genome-wide chromatin-remodeling events preconfigure epiblast cells for neural induction. Contrary to the established model, this revealed that cells commit to a regional identity before acquiring neural identity. This "primary regionalization" allocates cells to anterior or posterior regions of the nervou

SUBMITTER: Metzis V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6218657 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature