Ja. Feledy et al., Inhibitory patterning of the anterior neural plate in Xenopus by homeodomain factors Dlx3 and Msx1, DEVELOP BIO, 212(2), 1999, pp. 455-464
Patterning of the embryonic ectoderm is dependent upon the action of negati
ve (antineural) and positive (neurogenic) transcriptional regulators. Msx1
and Dlx3 are two antineural genes for which the anterior epidermal-neural b
oundaries of expression differ, probably due to differential sensitivity to
BMP signaling in the ectoderm. In the extreme anterior neural plate, Dlx3
is strongly expressed while Msx1 is silent. While both of these factors pre
vent the activation of genes specific to the nascent central nervous system
, Msx1 inhibits anterior markers, including Otx2 and cement gland-specific
genes. Dlx3 has little, if any, effect on these anterior neural plate genes
, instead providing a permissive environment for their expression while rep
ressing more panneural markers, including prepattern genes belonging to the
Zic family and BF-1. These properties define a molecular mechanism for tra
nslating the organizer-dependent morphogenic gradient of BMP activity into
spatially restricted gene expression in the prospective anterior neural pla
te.