October 21, 2004
As an embryo develops, its peripheral nervous system is seeded from two sources of cells: plate-like thickenings of the ectoderm called cranial ectodermal placodes and the more familiar neural crest. Although researchers have spent years intensively studying neural crest cells, relatively little is known about the formation of placodes. In the October issue of the journal Developmental Biology, NIDCR grantees at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena report the discovery of 52 genes involved in placode development. This paper marks the first array of candidate genes to appear in the scientific literature that are implicated in placode development.