The zebrafish olfactory epithelium comprises a variety of neuronal populations, which are thought to have distinct embryonic origins. For instance, while ciliated sensory neurons arise from preplacodal ectoderm (PPE), previous lineage tracing studies suggest that both Gonadotropin releasing hormone 3 (Gnrh3) and microvillous sensory neurons derive from cranial neural crest (CNC). We find that the expression of Islet1/2 is restricted to Gnrh3 neurons associated with the olfactory epithelium. Unexpectedly, however, we find no change in Islet1/2+ cell numbers in sox10 mutant embryos, calling into question their CNC origin. Lineage reconstruction based on backtracking in time-lapse confocal datasets, and confirmed by photoconversion experiments, reveals that Gnrh3 neurons derive from the anterior PPE. Similarly, all of the microvillous sensory neurons we have traced arise from preplacodal progenitors. Our results suggest that rather than originating from separate ectodermal populations, cell-type heterogeneity is generated from overlapping pools of progenitors within the preplacodal ectoderm.
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