Preface: the neural crest—From stem cell formation to migration and differentiation

Abstract

A central question in developmental biology is: how does a complex organism develop from a single cell, the fertilized egg? The problem itself is so complex that investigators strive to find simpler systems in which to address this broad question. The vertebrate neural crest presents the opportunity to study a group of outwardly homogeneous cells that form in a discrete region of the body, at the edge of the forming central nervous. They subsequently leave their site of origin, undergo migrations that are sometimes very extensive, finally differentiating into a wide range of derivatives as disparate as neurons, pigment cells and cartilage.

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