A novel function for Prdm12 during neural crest migration reveals a link between Wnt and N-cadherin

The delamination of neural crest cells is a critical developmental event shaping the vertebrate head and peripheral nervous system, among other tissues. While the gene regulatory network driving neural crest formation (NC-GRN) has been roughly drafted, there are many fine-tuning mechanisms which require full exploration, especially when a complex cross-talk between several regulators and signaling pathways is involved. We have identified that Prdm12, which encodes a histone methyltransferase highly expressed in the central nervous system and lateral preplacodal ectoderm, is also expressed in the sox10-positive cells located at the lateral front of the premigratory neural crest domain in Xenopus laevis embryos. We show that Prdm12 regulates cranial neural crest emigration, independently of its known enzymatic activity, by regulating non-canonical WNT signaling, which in turn controls N-cadherin membrane localization. Our work elucidates an important function of Prdm12 in the neural crest cells initiating migration and establishes a novel epistatic link between WNT signaling pathways and cell migration in the NC-GRN.