The emergence of multipotent and migratory neural crest (NC) cells defines a key evolutionary transition from invertebrates to vertebrates. Studies in vertebrates have identified a complex gene regulatory network that governs sequential stages of NC ontogeny. Comparative analysis has revealed extensive conservation of the overall architecture of the NC gene regulatory network between jawless and jawed vertebrates. Among invertebrates, urochordates express putative NC gene homologs in the neural plate border region, but these NC-like cells do not have migratory capacity, whereas cephalochordates contain no NC cells but its genome contains most homologs of vertebrate NC genes. Whether the absence of migratory NC cells in invertebrates is due to differences in enhancer elements or an intrinsic limitation in potency remains unclear. We provide a brief overview of mechanisms that might explain how ancestral NC-like cells acquired the multipotency and migratory capacity seen in vertebrates.

中文翻译：

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在脊椎动物进化中获得多能和迁徙的神经rest细胞。

多能和迁徙的神经rest（NC）细胞的出现定义了从无脊椎动物到脊椎动物的关键进化过渡。脊椎动物研究已经确定了控制NC个体发育的连续阶段的复杂基因调控网络。比较分析表明，无颌脊椎动物和颌骨脊椎动物之间NC基因调控网络的总体结构得到了广泛的保护。在无脊椎动物中，urochordates在神经板边界区域表达假定的NC基因同源物，但这些NC样细胞不具有迁移能力，而头状线虫不包含NC细胞，但其基因组包含脊椎动物NC基因的大多数同源物。尚不清楚无脊椎动物中是否存在迁徙性NC细胞是由于增强子元素的差异还是效力的内在限制。