2026-04-15 カリフォルニア大学サンディエゴ校（UCSD）
This image shows a developing neural stem (center, blue) and developing neural crest (yellow). UC San Diego researchers and their collaborators have discovered that during development, undifferentiated cells in the neural crest determine their eventual cell type much earlier than anticipated. Photo credit: UC San Diego Health Sciences
＜関連情報＞
- https://today.ucsd.edu/story/unlocking-secrets-of-human-development-how-early-cell-choices-shape-the-nervous-system
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10313-0
感覚神経節および交感神経節の発生学的組織化 Developmental organization of sensory and sympathetic ganglia
Keng Ioi Vong,Yanina D. Alvarez,Qingquan Zhang,Jiaming Weng,Geoffroy Noel,Scott T. Barton,Changuk Chung,Robyn Howarth,Naomi Meave,Fiza Jiwani,Sai B. Patarlapalli,Fenyong Yao,Fugui Zhu,Chelsea Barrows,Arzoo Patel,Jian Xiong Wang,Neil C. Chi,Stephen F. Kingsmore,Melanie D. White,Xiaoxu Yang (杨晓旭) & Joseph G. Gleeson
Nature Published:01 April 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10313-0
Abstract
The neural crest generates a broad spectrum of cell types that migrate across the body plan to populate multiple tissues1. However, the relationship between lineages of neural crest derivatives remains unclear, and the extent to which neural crest cells delaminated from the neural tube have specified fates remains debated. Here, leveraging CRISPR barcoding in mice and mosaic variant barcode analysis in humans, we demonstrate robust bilateral progenitor clonal spread of neural crest progenitors along the rostrocaudal axis but limited clonal overlap between sensory and sympathetic lineages. Computational modelling of mosaic variants suggests that most neural crest cells show strong fate restriction before delamination. Real-time imaging of quail embryos further shows a fibroblast-growth-factor-dependent rostrocaudal dispersion of neural crest cells across multiple axial levels. These findings support a model in which neural crest fate bias predominantly emerges within the neural tube, with only a minor subset of delaminated progenitors retaining multipotency to generate both sensory and sympathetic derivatives.
