Séminaire Scientifique IBPS - Mechanics of neural crest development: from induction to migration

Le vendredi 7 avril 2023, en salle de conférence C404 à l'IBPS (présentation en anglais)

Résumé : Neural crest is an embryonic cell population whose migratory behaviours has been likened to cancer invasion during metastasis. Neural crest cells are formed at the border of the neural tube by a combination of signals produced by adjacent tissues during its embryonic induction. Here I will discuss our recent findings that show that mechanical cues play an important role in controlling neural crest induction and migration.

Induction is a key mechanism in development which corresponds to an interaction between a signalling and a responding tissue, causing a change in the direction of differentiation by the responding tissue. Considerable progress has been achieved in identifying inductive signals, yet how tissues control their responsiveness to these signals, known as competence, remains poorly understood. While the role of molecular signals in competence has been studied, how tissue mechanics influence competence remains unexplored. We found that hydrostatic pressure controls the competence of neural crest to respond to the inductive signals, and we discovered an interplay between molecular and mechanical cues in this process. Once neural crest cells are induced, they migrate in a directional manner. Our work shows that this directional cell migration is regulated by a combination of chemical (chemotaxis) and mechanical (durotaxis) cues provided by the neural crest environment.