The migration of cranial neural crest (NC) cells to their appropriate target sites in the branchial arches and eventual differentiation into various cell and tissue types is required for normal craniofacial and hindbrain development. Cranial NC cell migration is a complex process that is thought to require precise regulation through a gene regulatory network (GRN) of transcription factors, morphogens, and cell adhesion proteins. There is extraordinary specificity in the relationship between the origins of the cranial NC cells in the hindbrain and their eventual destination within the cranial ganglia and branchial arches. Cranial NC cells migrate ventrolaterally in three broad streams from even numbered rhombomeres, transient swellings of the early neuroepithelium in vertebrates. Pre-otic vesicle cranial NC cells, originating from r2 and r4, migrate and populate the trigeminal ganglion and mandibular (first) arch, and the facioacoustic ganglion and hyoid (second) arch, respectively. Post-otic vesicle cranial NC cells, commonly referred to as cardiac neural crest cells, originate from r6 and r8 comprising the third stream, migrate and populate the glossopharyngeal-vagal ganglia, and branchial arches three, four and six.

Research related to deciphering the GRN regulating cranial NC cell migration contributing to craniofacial and hindbrain development encompasses using animal models, in vitro techniques, and bioinformatics. This collection will focus on established methods and new advancements to determine the GRN underlying cranial NC cell migration. This Methods Collection aims to include but is not limited to the use of gene knockout models, qRT-PCR, in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, time-lapse imaging, and in utero exposure of teratogens.