During embryogenesis, neural crest cells migrate along specific routes to their final destinations, where they differentiate into several cell types. On p. , De Calisto et al. now report that non-canonical Wnt signalling through the planar cell polarity or the Wnt-Ca2+ pathway is essential for the migration of these cells in Xenopus embryos. Their grafting and in vitro experiments with embryos carrying Dishevelled (Dsh)mutations show that non-canonical Wnt signalling controls neural crest migration; Dsh is a key component of both non-canonical Wnt signalling pathways. Other experiments uncover an essential role for the non-canonical Wnt ligand Wnt11 in this process. Finally, time-lapse analysis demonstrates that non-canonical Wnt signalling controls neural crest migration in vitro by stabilising the protrusions of migrating cells. The researchers propose that,as in mesoderm migration during vertebrate gastrulation, non-canonical Wnt signalling controls cytoskeletal behaviour or cell-adhesion properties during neural crest migration.
