Donoghue Philip C J, Graham Anthony, Kelsh Robert N
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, UK.
Bioessays. 2008 Jun;30(6):530-41. doi: 10.1002/bies.20767.
Many of the features that distinguish the vertebrates from other chordates are derived from the neural crest, and it has long been argued that the emergence of this multipotent embryonic population was a key innovation underpinning vertebrate evolution. More recently, however, a number of studies have suggested that the evolution of the neural crest was less sudden than previously believed. This has exposed the fact that neural crest, as evidenced by its repertoire of derivative cell types, has evolved through vertebrate evolution. In this light, attempts to derive a typological definition of neural crest, in terms of molecular signatures or networks, are unfounded. We propose a less restrictive, embryological definition of this cell type that facilitates, rather than precludes, investigating the evolution of neural crest. While the evolutionary origin of neural crest has attracted much attention, its subsequent evolution has received almost no attention and yet it is more readily open to experimental investigation and has greater relevance to understanding vertebrate evolution. Finally, we provide a brief outline of how the evolutionary emergence of neural crest potentiality may have proceeded, and how it may be investigated.
许多将脊椎动物与其他脊索动物区分开来的特征都源自神经嵴，长期以来人们一直认为，这种多能胚胎细胞群的出现是脊椎动物进化的关键创新。然而，最近一些研究表明，神经嵴的进化并不像之前认为的那样突然。这揭示了一个事实，即从其衍生细胞类型的全部范围来看，神经嵴是在脊椎动物进化过程中演变而来的。有鉴于此，试图根据分子特征或网络得出神经嵴的类型学定义是毫无根据的。我们提出了一种对这种细胞类型限制较少的胚胎学定义，这有助于而非妨碍对神经嵴进化的研究。虽然神经嵴的进化起源备受关注，但其后续进化几乎未受到关注，然而它更容易接受实验研究，并且对于理解脊椎动物进化具有更大的相关性。最后，我们简要概述了神经嵴潜能的进化出现可能是如何发生的，以及如何对其进行研究。
