During development, the brain and spinal cord are formed from a structure called the neural tube.  Neural tube formation is aided by a population of cells called the neural crest.  After neural tube formation, these neural crest cells migrate elsewhere in the embryo and give rise to a wide variety of cell types, including neurons, skin pigment cells, smooth muscle, and facial cartilage.  Within the neural crest are stem cells that are self-renewing and multipotent, meaning that when they divide they remain stem cells and have the potential to give rise to many cell types. A recent paper advances our understanding of neural crest stem cells.  This paper describes the importance of a protein called Foxd3, which maintains the self-renewing and multipotent state of the neural crest stem cells.  In addition, Foxd3 regulates the choice for stem cells to eventually give rise to neural or non-neural cells

Image shows a neural crest cell population in a mouse embryo with (left) or without (right) normal levels of Foxd3.  Without the normal level of Foxd3, the neural crest stem cells gave rise to more non-neural cells, specifically cells that will become bone and cartilage (red cells).

For a more scientifically detailed description of this image (and a bonus unpublished image from the authors!), check out my post on The Node, the community forum for and by developmental biologists.