Research article

The F-box protein Cdc4/Fbxw7 is a novel regulator of neural crest development in Xenopus laevis

Alexandra D Almeida^1* , Helen M Wise^2* , Christopher J Hindley¹ , Michael K Slevin³ , Rebecca S Hartley⁴ and Anna Philpott¹

¹  Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Hutchison-MRC Research Centre, Addenbrookes Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0XZ, UK

²  Current address: Division of Virology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, CB2 1QP, UK

³  Program in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA

⁴  Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, and Cancer Center, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA

author email corresponding author email* Contributed equally

Neural Development 2010, 5:1doi:10.1186/1749-8104-5-1

Published:	4 January 2010

Abstract

Background

The neural crest is a unique population of cells that arise in the vertebrate ectoderm at the neural plate border after which they migrate extensively throughout the embryo, giving rise to a wide range of derivatives. A number of proteins involved in neural crest development have dynamic expression patterns, and it is becoming clear that ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation is partly responsible for this.

Results

Here we demonstrate a novel role for the F-box protein Cdc4/Fbxw7 in neural crest development. Two isoforms of Xenopus laevis Cdc4 were identified, and designated xCdc4α and xCdc4β. These are highly conserved with vertebrate Cdc4 orthologs, and the Xenopus proteins are functionally equivalent in terms of their ability to degrade Cyclin E, an established vertebrate Cdc4 target. Blocking xCdc4 function specifically inhibited neural crest development at an early stage, prior to expression of c-Myc, Snail2 and Snail.

Conclusions

We demonstrate that Cdc4, an ubiquitin E3 ligase subunit previously identified as targeting primarily cell cycle regulators for proteolysis, has additional roles in control of formation of the neural crest. Hence, we identify Cdc4 as a protein with separable but complementary functions in control of cell proliferation and differentiation.