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Neural crest multipotency and specification: power and limits of single cell transcriptomic approaches

The neural crest is a unique population of multipotent cells forming in vertebrate embryos. Their vast cell fate potential enables the generation of a diverse array of differentiated cell types in vivo. These include, among others, connective tissue, cartilage and bone of the face and skull, neurons and glia of the peripheral nervous system (including enteric nervous system), and melanocytes. Following migration, these derivatives extensively populate multiple germ layers. Within the competent neural border ectoderm, an area located at the junction between the neural and non-neural ectoderm during embryonic development, neural crest cells form in response to a series of inductive secreted cues including BMP, Wnt, and FGF signals. As cells become progressively specified, they express transcriptional modules conducive with their stage of fate determination or cell state. Those sequential states include the neural border state, the premigratory neural crest state, the epithelium-to-mesenchyme transitional state, and the migratory state to end with post-migratory and differentiation states. However, despite the extensive knowledge accumulated over 150 years of neural crest biology, many key questions remain open, in particular the timing of neural crest lineage determination, the control of potency during early developmental stages, and the lineage relationships between different subpopulations of neural crest cells. In this review, we discuss the recent advances in understanding early neural crest formation using cutting-edge high-throughput single cell sequencing approaches. We will discuss how this new transcriptomic data, from 2017 to 2021, has advanced our knowledge of the steps in neural crest cell lineage commitment and specification, the mechanisms driving multipotency, and diversification. We will then discuss the questions that remain to be resolved and how these approaches may continue to unveil the biology of these fascinating cells.