Gene notes: One of the first genes to be expressed in nonneural ectoderm in amphioxus is BMP2/4 (Panopoulou et al. 1998). BMP2/4 homologues appear to have a very ancient role in distinguishing neural from nonneural ectoderm; in Drosophila as well as in amphioxus and vertebrates, BMP2/4 homologues are expressed in nonneural ectoderm and function in distinguishing neural from nonneural ectoderm (Francois & Bier, 1995 ; Sasai et al. 1995 ; Wilson & Hemmati-Brivanlou, 1995; Panopoulou et al. 1998). A change in level of BMP2/4 from very high in nonneural ectoderm to low in neural ectoderm appears to be a key factor in development of neural crest (Baker & Bronner-Fraser,1997a,1997b;Erickson&Reedy,1998;Marchantet al.1998 ;Selleck et al. 1998).; [development-note] "After gastrulation, neural crest cells are specified at the border of the neural plate and the non-neural ectoderm."; [homology-note] "In the early gastrula of vertebrates, factors from the organizer (e.g. noggin, chordin, and follistatin in Xenopus) antagonize the epidermalizing factor bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4), thus dividing the epiblast into neuroectoderm. In Drosophila, decapentaplegic, the homologue of BMP4, interacts similarly with the protein short gastrulation, the homologue of chordin. Thus, a comparable molecular mechanism for distinguishing non-neural ectoderm from neural ectoderm was probably present in the common ancestor of all bilaterally symmetrical animals.[well established][VHOG]" xsd:string {date_retrieved="2012-09-17", external_class="VHOG:0001372", ontology="VHOG", source="DOI:10.1016/S0959-4388(99)00003-3 Holland LZ and Holland ND, Chordate origins of the vertebrate central nervous system. Current Opinion in Neurobiology (1999)", source="http://bgee.unil.ch/"}