AUTOCRINE REGULATION OF NEURAL CREST CELL-DEVELOPMENT BY STEEL FACTOR

Steel factor (SLF) and its cognate receptor, c-kit, have been implicat ed in the generation of melanocytes from migrating neural crest (NC) c ells during early vertebrate embryogenesis. However, the source of SLE in the early avian embryo and its precise role in melanogenesis are u nclear. We report here that NC cells themselves express and release SL F protein, which in turn acts as an autocrine factor to induce melanog enesis in nearby NC cells. These results indicate that NC cell subpopu lations play an active role in the determination of their cell fate an d suggest a different developmental role for the embryonic microenviro nment than what has been previously proposed. (C) 1997 Academic Press.