Synonyms: non neural ectoderm
Term information
- EMAPA:16074
- VHOG:0001372
- EHDAA:257
- RETIRED_EHDAA2:0001273
- EFO:0003643
- TAO:0001178
- ZFA:0001178
- XAO:0004091
efo_slim, vertebrate_core
Gene notes: One of the first genes to be expressed in nonneural ectoderm in amphioxus is BMP2/4 (Panopoulou et al. 1998). BMP2/4 homologues appear to have a very ancient role in distinguishing neural from nonneural ectoderm; in Drosophila as well as in amphioxus and vertebrates, BMP2/4 homologues are expressed in nonneural ectoderm and function in distinguishing neural from nonneural ectoderm (Francois & Bier, 1995 ; Sasai et al. 1995 ; Wilson & Hemmati-Brivanlou, 1995; Panopoulou et al. 1998). A change in level of BMP2/4 from very high in nonneural ectoderm to low in neural ectoderm appears to be a key factor in development of neural crest (Baker & Bronner-Fraser,1997a,1997b;Erickson&Reedy,1998;Marchantet al.1998 ;Selleck et al. 1998).
After gastrulation, neural crest cells are specified at the border of the neural plate and the non-neural ectoderm.
In the early gastrula of vertebrates, factors from the organizer (e.g. noggin, chordin, and follistatin in Xenopus) antagonize the epidermalizing factor bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4), thus dividing the epiblast into neuroectoderm. In Drosophila, decapentaplegic, the homologue of BMP4, interacts similarly with the protein short gastrulation, the homologue of chordin. Thus, a comparable molecular mechanism for distinguishing non-neural ectoderm from neural ectoderm was probably present in the common ancestor of all bilaterally symmetrical animals.[well established][VHOG]