Although the face and heart don't end up so close together, they arise from the same type of precursor cells called neural crest cells. (sciencenews.org)
The researchers discovered that two members of a class of ion channels that can sense a change in temperature were present in neural crest cells from chickens and mice. (sciencenews.org)
Also changed were genes involved in the function of neural crest cells. (sciencenews.org)