Dynamic Sox5 protein expression during cranial ganglia development.

Sox5 is a member of the SoxD group of HMG-box transcription factors that, during the early stages of development, promotes neural crest generation. However, little is known about Sox5 function in neural crest derivatives such as the peripheral sensory nervous system. We have analysed the embryonic expression of Sox5 during chick cranial ganglia development, from the stages of ganglia condensation to those of differentiation. During this period, Sox5 expression is maintained in the crest-derived satellite glial cells in all the cranial ganglia. In contrast, Sox5 is only transiently expressed in a subpopulation of differentiating neurons of both neural crest and placode origin. This detailed analysis provides a good base to dissect the possible role of Sox5 in neural cell fate determination by future functional approaches.