Control of neural crest multipotency by Wnt signaling and the Lin28/let-7 axis

Abstract

A crucial step in cell differentiation is the silencing of developmental programs underlying multipotency. While much is known about how lineage-specific genes are activated to generate distinct cell types, the mechanisms driving suppression of stemness are far less understood. To address this, we examined the regulation of the transcriptional network that maintains progenitor identity in avian neural crest cells. Our results show that a regulatory circuit formed by Wnt, Lin28a and let-7 miRNAs controls the deployment and the subsequent silencing of the multipotency program in a position-dependent manner. Transition from multipotency to differentiation is determined by the topological relationship between the migratory cells and the dorsal neural tube, which acts as a Wnt-producing stem cell niche. Our findings highlight a mechanism that rapidly silences complex regulatory programs, and elucidate how transcriptional networks respond to positional information during cell differentiation.

Data availability

All data generated for this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for all figures.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Debadrita Bhattacharya

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics,, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Megan Rothstein

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics,, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Ana Paula Azambuja

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics,, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Marcos Simoes-Costa

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics,, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
    For correspondence
    simoescosta@cornell.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1452-7068

Funding

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research

  • Marcos Simoes-Costa

March of Dimes Foundation

  • Marcos Simoes-Costa

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2018, Bhattacharya et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 3,427
    views
  • 471
    downloads
  • 46
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Debadrita Bhattacharya
  2. Megan Rothstein
  3. Ana Paula Azambuja
  4. Marcos Simoes-Costa
(2018)
Control of neural crest multipotency by Wnt signaling and the Lin28/let-7 axis
eLife 7:e40556.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.40556

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.40556

Further reading

    1. Cell Biology
    2. Developmental Biology
    Dilara N Anbarci, Jennifer McKey ... Blanche Capel
    Research Article

    The rete ovarii (RO) is an appendage of the ovary that has been given little attention. Although the RO appears in drawings of the ovary in early versions of Gray’s Anatomy, it disappeared from recent textbooks, and is often dismissed as a functionless vestige in the adult ovary. Using PAX8 immunostaining and confocal microscopy, we characterized the fetal development of the RO in the context of the mouse ovary. The RO consists of three distinct regions that persist in adult life, the intraovarian rete (IOR), the extraovarian rete (EOR), and the connecting rete (CR). While the cells of the IOR appear to form solid cords within the ovary, the EOR rapidly develops into a convoluted tubular epithelium ending in a distal dilated tip. Cells of the EOR are ciliated and exhibit cellular trafficking capabilities. The CR, connecting the EOR to the IOR, gradually acquires tubular epithelial characteristics by birth. Using microinjections into the distal dilated tip of the EOR, we found that luminal contents flow toward the ovary. Mass spectrometry revealed that the EOR lumen contains secreted proteins potentially important for ovarian function. We show that the cells of the EOR are closely associated with vasculature and macrophages, and are contacted by neuronal projections, consistent with a role as a sensory appendage of the ovary. The direct proximity of the RO to the ovary and its integration with the extraovarian landscape suggest that it plays an important role in ovary development and homeostasis.

    1. Cell Biology
    2. Developmental Biology
    Yan Zhang, Hua Zhang
    Insight

    Long thought to have little relevance to ovarian physiology, the rete ovarii may have a role in follicular dynamics and reproductive health.