The MITF paralog tfec is required in neural crest development for fate specification of the iridophore lineage from a multipotent pigment cell progenitor.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how fate specification of distinct cell-types from multipotent progenitors occurs is a fundamental question in embryology. Neural crest stem cells (NCSCs) generate extraordinarily diverse derivatives, including multiple neural, skeletogenic and pigment cell fates. Key transcription factors and extracellular signals specifying NCSC lineages remain to be identified, and we have only a little idea of how and when they function together to control fate. Zebrafish have three neural crest-derived pigment cell types, black melanocytes, light-reflecting iridophores and yellow xanthophores, which offer a powerful model for studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms of fate segregation. Mitfa has been identified as the master regulator of melanocyte fate. Here, we show that an Mitf

SUBMITTER: Petratou K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7806166 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature