RESEARCH ARTICLE Sonic hedgehog signaling directs patterned cell remodeling during cranial neural tube closure Eric R Brooks1, Mohammed Tarek Islam1, Kathryn V Anderson2, Jennifer A Zallen1* 1Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, United States; 2Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, United States Abstract Neural tube closure defects are a major cause of infant mortality, with exencephaly accounting for nearly one-third of cases. However, the mechanisms of cranial neural tube closure are not well understood. Here, we show that this process involves a tissue-wide pattern of apical constriction controlled by Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling. Midline cells in the mouse midbrain neuroepithelium are flat with large apical surfaces, whereas lateral cells are taller and undergo synchronous apical constriction, driving neural fold elevation. Embryos lacking the Shh effector Gli2 fail to produce appropriate midline cell architecture, whereas embryos with expanded Shh signaling, including the IFT-A complex mutants Ift122 and Ttc21b and embryos expressing activated Smoothened, display apical constriction defects in lateral cells. Disruption of lateral, but not midline, cell remodeling results in exencephaly. These results reveal a morphogenetic program of patterned apical constriction governed by Shh signaling that generates structural changes in the developing mammalian brain. *For correspondence: Introduction
[email protected] Neural tube closure defects are among the most common structural birth defects, occurring in 1 in 1000 pregnancies worldwide (Wallingford et al., 2013; Zaganjor et al., 2016). During develop- Competing interests: The ment, neuroepithelial cells undergo extensive remodeling to transform a flat sheet into a fully closed authors declare that no tube that gives rise to the brain and spinal cord of the animal.