The cellular and molecular origins of beak morphology

Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying differences in beak morphology likely involve interactions among multiple embryonic populations. We exchanged neural crest cells destined to participate in beak morphogenesis between two anatomically distinct species. Quail neural crest cells produced quail beaks in duck hosts and duck neural crest produced duck bills in quail hosts. These transformations involved morphological changes to non-neural crest host beak tissues. To achieve these changes, donor neural crest cells executed autonomous molecular programs and regulated gene expression in adjacent host tissues. Thus, neural crest cells are a source of molecular information that generates interspecific variation in beak morphology.     

Cell line segregation during peripheral nervous system ontogeny

The peripheral nervous system of vertebrates arises from the neural crest and the ectodermal placodes. Construction of quail-chick chimaeras has provided significant information on the migration and fate of the neural crest and placodal cells. Transplantation of neural crest tissue to various sites in these chimaeras has demonstrated that the differentiation of neural crest cells is controlled by environmental influences during their migration and, particularly, during gangliogenesis. Experiments with in vitro and monoclonal antibody techniques have shown that these environmental cues act on a heterogeneous population of neural crest cells whose developmental potencies are partly restricted to definite differentiation pathways.     

Ectodermal Wnt function as a neural crest inducer

Neural crest cells, which generate peripheral nervous system and facial skeleton, arise at the neural plate/ectodermal border via an inductive interaction between these tissues. Wnts and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) play roles in neural crest induction in amphibians and zebrafish. Here, we show that, in avians, Wnt6 is localized in ectoderm and in vivo inhibition of Wnt signaling perturbs neural crest formation. Furthermore, Wnts induce neural crest from naive neural plates in vitro in a defined medium without added factors, whereas BMPs require additives. Our data suggest that Wnt molecules are necessary and sufficient to induce neural crest cells in avian embryos.     

Hirschsprung disease is linked to defects in neural crest stem cell function

Genes associated with Hirschsprung disease, a failure to form enteric ganglia in the hindgut, were highly up-regulated in gut neural crest stem cells relative to whole-fetus RNA. One of these genes, the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) receptor Ret, was necessary for neural crest stem cell migration in the gut. GDNF promoted the migration of neural crest stem cells in culture but did not affect their survival or proliferation. Gene expression profiling, combined with reverse genetics and analyses of stem cell function, suggests that Hirschsprung disease is caused by defects in neural crest stem cell function.     

Role of the isthmus and FGFs in resolving the paradox of neural crest plasticity and prepatterning

Cranial neural crest cells generate the distinctive bone and connective tissues in the vertebrate head. Classical models of craniofacial development argue that the neural crest is prepatterned or preprogrammed to make specific head structures before its migration from the neural tube. In contrast, recent studies in several vertebrates have provided evidence for plasticity in patterning neural crest populations. Using tissue transposition and molecular analyses in avian embryos, we reconcile these findings by demonstrating that classical manipulation experiments, which form the basis of the prepatterning model, involved transplantation of a local signaling center, the isthmic organizer. FGF8 signaling from the isthmus alters Hoxa2 expression and consequently branchial arch patterning, demonstrating that neural crest cells are patterned by environmental signals.     

Instructive role of Wnt/beta-catenin in sensory fate specification in neural crest stem cells

Wnt signaling has recently emerged as a key factor in controlling stem cell expansion. In contrast, we show here that Wnt/beta-catenin signal activation in emigrating neural crest stem cells (NCSCs) has little effect on the population size and instead regulates fate decisions. Sustained beta-catenin activity in neural crest cells promotes the formation of sensory neural cells in vivo at the expense of virtually all other neural crest derivatives. Moreover, Wnt1 is able to instruct early NCSCs (eNCSCs) to adopt a sensory neuronal fate in a beta-catenin-dependent manner. Thus, the role of Wnt/beta-catenin in stem cells is cell-type dependent.     

Neural crest and the origin of vertebrates: a new head

Most of the morphological and functional differences between vertebrates and other chordates occur in the head and are derived embryologically from muscularized hypomere, neural crest, and epidermal (neurogenic) placodes. In the head, the neural crest functions as mesoderm and forms connective, skeletal, and muscular tissue. Both the neural crest and the epidermal placodes form special sense organs and other neural structures. These structures may be homologous to portions of the epidermal nerve plexus of protochordates. The transition to vertebrates apparently was associated with a shift from a passive to an active mode of predation, so that many of the features occurring only in vertebrates became concentrated in the head.     

Local embryonic matrices determine region-specific phenotypes in neural crest cells

Membrane microcarriers were used to determine the ability of regional extracellular matrices to direct neural crest cell differentiation in culture. Neural crest cells from the axolotl embryo responded to extracellular matrix material explanted from the subepidermal migratory pathway by dispersing and by differentiating into pigment cells. In contrast, matrix material from the presumptive site of dorsal root ganglia stimulated pronounced cell-cell association and neurotypic expression. Cell line segregation during ontogeny of the neural crest that leads to diversification into pigment cells of the skin or into elements of the peripheral nervous system appears to be controlled in part by local cell-matrix interactions.     

Mouse tumor model for neurofibromatosis type 1

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by increased incidence of benign and malignant tumors of neural crest origin. Mutations that activate the protooncogene ras, such as loss of Nf1, cooperate with inactivating mutations at the p53 tumor suppressor gene during malignant transformation. One hundred percent of mice harboring null Nf1 and p53 alleles in cis synergize to develop soft tissue sarcomas between 3 and 7 months of age. These sarcomas exhibit loss of heterozygosity at both gene loci and express phenotypic traits characteristic of neural crest derivatives and human NF1 malignancies.     

The dorsal aorta initiates a molecular cascade that instructs sympatho-adrenal specification

The autonomic nervous system, which includes the sympathetic neurons and adrenal medulla, originates from the neural crest. Combining avian blood vessel-specific gene manipulation and mouse genetics, we addressed a long-standing question of how neural crest cells (NCCs) generate sympathetic and medullary lineages during embryogenesis. We found that the dorsal aorta acts as a morphogenetic signaling center that coordinates NCC migration and cell lineage segregation. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) produced by the dorsal aorta are critical for the production of the chemokine stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF -1) and Neuregulin 1 in the para-aortic region, which act as chemoattractants for early migration. Later, BMP signaling is directly involved in the sympatho-medullary segregation. This study provides insights into the complex developmental signaling cascade that instructs one of the earliest events of neurovascular interactions guiding embryonic development.     

Commitment of neural crest cells to the sensory neuron lineage

Clonal cultures and monoclonal antibodies against a lineage-specific epitope, stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 (SSEA-1) were used to analyze the commitment of quail neural crest cells to the sensory neuron pathway. There were two distinct populations of sensory cells at the time of gangliogenesis. Postmitotic neuroblasts that remained in close association with the neural tube coexisted with a large number of pluripotent cells that formed the leading edge of the emigrating cells and gave rise to sensory and autonomic neuroblasts and to melanocytes. The data suggest a dual origin of spinal sensory neuroblasts and a predominantly late divergence of the autonomic and sensory lineages.     

L-Dopa methyl ester: prolongation of survival of neuroblastoma-bearing mice after treatment

L-Dopa has has been shown to demonstrate enhanced toxicity toward melanoma cells in vitro. Since melanocytes arise from the neural crest embryologically, the effect of L-dopa methyl ester, a soluble analog, on the murine C1300 neuroblastoma was studied. There was significant antitumor activity against the neuroblastoma, which was enhanced by combination with a dopa decarboxylase inhibitor, Ro4-4602. In vitro studies suggested inhibition of DNA synthesis as the principal site of action. A mechanism involving sulfhydryl compound scavenging is postulated.     

Putative skeletal neural crest cells in early late ordovician vertebrates from colorado

Two vertebrates from the Colorado Formation are known to have acellular bone and dentine, tissues found in heterostracan fishes and proposed as the primitive exoskeleton. High-resolution optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy indicate that a third vertebrate is represented by a quite distinct exoskeleton of denticles, with many cell and cell process spaces throughout, tissue that resembles that of osteostracans more than heterostracans. Cellular bone coexists with cellular dentine in this Ordovician vertebrate, demonstrating that these skeletal tissues are as old as acellular bone. Both are proposed to come from neural crest because denticles are considered homologous with teeth.     

基于神经网络及近红外光谱的草莓成熟度快速识别方法

[目的]探究快速检验草莓的成熟度、提高草莓采摘自动化水平的方法。[方法]采集350～2 500 nm波段草莓的光谱信息,提取光谱的一阶导数值并进行主成分分析,取2个主成分并获得了主成分中贡献率最大的6个峰值点,将各个峰值点两侧各取5个波段点作为特征点。随机选取58个样本组成60×58的矩阵作为训练集,导入用Matlab建立的人工BP神经网络中进行训练。[结果]利用测试集进行识别模型的检验,识别正确率达到93.1%。[结论]利用近红外光谱对草莓成熟度进行识别是可行的。     

Gene transfer and molecular cloning of the human NGF receptor

Nerve growth factor (NGF) and its receptor are important in the development of cells derived from the neural crest. Mouse L cell transformants have been generated that stably express the human NGF receptor gene transfer with total human DNA. Affinity cross-linking, metabolic labeling and immunoprecipitation, and equilibrium binding with 125I-labeled NGF revealed that this NGF receptor had the same size and binding characteristics as the receptor from human melanoma cells and rat PC12 cells. The sequences encoding the NGF receptor were molecularly cloned using the human Alu repetitive sequence as a probe. A cosmid clone that contained the human NGF receptor gene allowed efficient transfection and expression of the receptor.     

Ages of pacific deep-sea basalts, and spreading of the sea floor

Potassium-argon determinations of age from whole-rock samples of tholeiitic basalts, dredged from the crest of the East Pacific Rise and from the flanks of three seamounts at varying distances from the crest, show that the crest is younger than 1 million years and that age does not correlate with distance from the crest. Our data, however, do not necessarily oppose the general concept of spreading of the ocean floor.     

Redistribution of Snowfall across a Mountain Range by Artificial Seeding: A Case Study

Clouds over the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains were artificially seeded to reduce the riming and fall speeds of snow crystals and to divert snowfall across the crest. Aircraft observations showed that the clouds were glaciated by the seeding. The crystal habits and the degrees of riming of snow crystals reaching the target area were modified. Snowfall rates decreased at the crest and simultaneously increased 20 kilometers east of the crest.     

Deuterium content of snow cores from Sierra Nevada area

The relative deuterium content was measured on 37 snow cores collected in April 1969 in the Sierra Nevada. The deuterium content varies inversely with altitude of collection (approximately 40 per mil per 1000 meters) but is unrelated to latitude. The altitude relationship is particularly well defined west of the crest of the range but is not well defined east of the crest. However, samples from east of the crest tend to be depleted by about 10 to 15 per mil relative to samples collected at the same elevation west of the crest. We propose that the deuterium content of snow cores, collected so as to include the total winter's precipitation, can be used as a climatic indicator to compare the climate of one winter with that of another.     

臂坡对堰槽组合设施测流影响分析

针对堰槽组合设施在遭遇洪水、水位较高时引发的坡脚掏蚀、岸坡冲刷崩塌等问题，将设施两侧堰顶设置一定坡度，形成向槽内倾斜的臂坡，使水流向设施中部集中，减少对两岸边坡的冲蚀。采用水力性能试验的方法，对3种臂坡(0，1/16和1/8)在12种流量(6~61 L/s)条件下的中垂面水深、弗汝德数沿程变化规律、臂坡对设施泄流能力的影响及流量公式进行研究。结果表明:1)3种臂坡下的堰槽组合设施水深沿程变化相似，随着臂坡的增大，中垂线上游水位壅高增大，两侧堰靠近岸坡一侧的堰上水深减小，明显减少了水流对两岸边坡的冲蚀；2)臂坡对临界流断面位置影响较小，集中出现在排淤量水槽梯形窄段的后半段；同一流量下，堰槽组合设施的流量系数随臂坡的增大而减小；同一臂坡下，堰槽组合设施的流量系数随着流量的增大而减小；3)相对水头较小时，流量系数变化明显，相对水头较大时，流量系数相对稳定，将流量系数分为变动流量系数和稳定流量系数2个区，并分别拟合出不同臂坡条件下的流量计算公式，与实测流量相比，臂坡为0、1/16和1/8时，相对误差绝对值的最大值分别为2.22%、2.37%和2.21%，平均相对误差分别为0.88%、0.95%和1.15%。此外，在流量为11 和21 L/s时，臂坡的增大使得流量公式计算值的相对误差由-2.22%降至-0.44%和由2.35%降至-0.24%。综上，臂坡的存在能够减少水流对两岸边坡的冲蚀，对临界流断面的影响较小，增大臂坡还可有效提高堰槽组合设施在小流量情况下的测量精度。