Notochord morphogenesis in mice: Current understanding & open questions

The notochord is a structure common to all chordates, and the feature that the phylum Chordata has been named after. It is a rod‐like mesodermal structure that runs the anterior–posterior length of the embryo, adjacent to the ventral neural tube. The notochord plays a critical role in embryonic tissue patterning, for example the dorsal–ventral patterning of the neural tube. The cells that will come to form the notochord are specified at gastrulation. Axial mesodermal cells arising at the anterior primitive streak migrate anteriorly as the precursors of the notochord and populate the notochordal plate. Yet, even though a lot of interest has centered on investigating the functional and structural roles of the notochord, we still have a very rudimentary understanding of notochord morphogenesis. The events driving the formation of the notochord are rapid, taking place over the period of approximately a day in mice. In this commentary, we provide an overview of our current understanding of mouse notochord morphogenesis, from the initial specification of axial mesendodermal cells at the primitive streak, the emergence of these cells at the midline on the surface of the embryo, to their submergence and organization of the stereotypically positioned notochord. We will also discuss some key open questions. Developmental Dynamics 245:547–557, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.