Int. J. Dev. Biol. 58: 701 - 704 (2014)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.140254js

Vol 58, Issue 9

Developmental expression of Pitx2c in Xenopus trigeminal and profundal placodes

Developmental Expression Pattern | Published: 12 March 2015

Yeon-Ho Jeong¹, Byung-Keon Park¹, Jean-Pierre Saint-Jeannet² and Young-Hoon Lee*^,1

¹Department of Oral Anatomy, School of Dentistry, and Institute of Oral Biosciences, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Republic of Korea and ²Department of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology, College of Dentistry, New York University, New York, USA

Abstract

Cranial placodes are thickenings of the embryonic head ectoderm that contribute to the paired sense organs and to the cephalic peripheral nervous system. Here we report the spatiotemporal expression pattern of transcription factor Pitx2c during Xenopus laevis cranial placode formation, focusing more specifically on key stages of trigeminal and profundal placode development. We also compare its expression to five genes that have been associated with development of these sensory placodes, namely Foxi1c, Islet1, NeuroD, Pax3, and Six1. We show that while initially expressed in both the trigeminal and profundal placodes, Pitx2c is later restricted to the prospective profundal ganglion, where it is co-expressed with Islet1, NeuroD and Pax3. This combination of factors defines a molecular signature for the characterization of the profundal versus trigeminal ganglia in Xenopus.

Keywords

cranial placode, trigeminal, profundal, Pitx2c, Xenopus