Role of the cardiac neural crest cells in heart development and regeneration

In all vertebrates, heart development is dependent on the interplay of several cell populations of distinct embryonic origin.

One of these cell populations is the cardiac neural crest (CNC) which contributes to the outflow tract and spiral septum in amniotes.

However, CNC cells also migrate to the ventricles and differentiate into cardiomyocytes both in zebrafish and in amniotes.

Interestingly, recent results from one of the host lab have shown that CNC-derived cardiomyocytes in zebrafish have an extraordinary capacity for regeneration and that ablation of these cells blocks heart regeneration.

Here, I will explore whether this regenerative capacity of cardiomyocytes is unique to zebrafish or represents an ancestral state of characters for vertebrates in general.

The goal of the proposed research is to use phylogenetically important vertebrates (lamprey, sturgeon, and axolotl) to answer fundamental questions about the development of the CNC and its role in heart regeneration across vertebrates.

Thus, we aim to i) examine the fate of CNC in three species; ii) determine the potential of CNC to differentiate into cardiomyocytes; iii) examine the gene expression profile of CNC cells and neural crest-derived cardiomyocytes; iv) ablate neural crest-derived cells and examine their function in heart regeneration.