Fig. 3

Planar cell polarity protein Prickle 1 mediates the transition of neural crest cells to a mesenchymal morphology. A Wild-type pre-migratory neural crest cells (NCCs) in the zebrafish neuroepithelium undergo EMT behaviors that include detachment from the apical surface, cell rounding and membrane blebbing at the basal surface, and a transition to protrusive mesenchymal morphology for lateral migration. B In embryos with a mutation in the core PCP Prickle 1 genes pk1a or pk1b, NCCs cluster and undergo abnormal anterior migration along the neural tube [55]. These mutant NCCs bleb for an extended period and largely fail to transition to mesenchymal morphology. Some NCCs that do become mesenchymal and migratory fail to separate from adjacent NCCs. Knockdown of Pk1b results in an increase of E-cadherin and a decrease of N-cadherin in migratory NCCs as compared to wild-type