Notch and MAML Signaling Drives Scl-Dependent Interneuron Diversity in the Spinal Cord (original) (raw)
Related papers
Development, 2022
Significant progress has been made in elucidating the basic principles that govern neuronal specification in the developing central nervous system. In contrast, much less is known about the origin of astrocytic diversity. Here we demonstrate that a restricted pool of progenitors in the mouse spinal cord, expressing the transcription factor Dbx1, produces a subset of astrocytes, in addition to interneurons. Ventral p0-derived astrocytes (vA0) exclusively populate intermediate regions of spinal cord with extraordinary precision. Postnatal vA0 population comprises gray matter protoplasmic and white matter fibrous astrocytes and a group of cells with strict radial morphology contacting the pia. We identified that vA0 cells in the lateral funiculus are distinguished by the expression of Reelin and Kcnmb4. We show that Dbx1 mutants have increased vA0 cells at the expense of p0-derived interneurons. Manipulation of the Notch pathway, together with the alteration in their ligands seen in Dbx1 knock-outs, suggest that Dbx1 controls neuron-glial balance by modulating Notch-dependent cell interactions. In summary, this study highlights that restricted progenitors in dorsal-ventral neural tube produce region-specific astrocytic subgroups and that progenitor transcriptional programs highly influence glial fate and are instrumental in creating astrocyte diversity.
Developmental neurobiology, 2014
Motor activities are controlled by neural networks in the ventral spinal cord and consist in motor neurons and a set of distinct cardinal classes of spinal interneurons. These interneurons arise from distinct progenitor domains (p0-p3) delineated according to a transcriptional code. Neural progenitors of each domain express a unique combination of transcription factors (TFs) that largely contribute to determine the fate of four classes of interneurons (V0-V3) and motor neurons. In p2 domain, at least four subtypes of interneurons namely V2a, V2b, V2c, and Pax6(+) V2 are generated. Although genetic and molecular mechanisms that specify V2a and V2b are dependent on complex interplay between several TFs including Nkx6.1, Irx3, Gata2, Foxn4, and Ascl1, and signaling pathways such as Notch and TGF-β, the sequence order of the activation of these regulators and their respective contribution are not completely elucidated yet. Here, we provide evidence by loss- or gain-of-function experimen...
BMC Biology, 2011
BACKGROUND: Building the complex vertebrate nervous system involves the regulated production of neurons and glia while maintaining a progenitor cell population. Neurogenesis starts asynchronously in different regions of the embryo and occurs over a long period of time, allowing progenitor cells to be exposed to multiple extrinsic signals that regulate the production of different cell types. Notch-mediated cell-cell signalling is one of the mechanisms that maintain the progenitor pool, however, little is known about how the timing of Notch activation is related to the cell cycle and the distinct modes of cell division that generate neurons. An essential tool with which to investigate the role of Notch signalling on cell by cell basis is the development a faithful reporter of Notch activity. RESULTS: Here we present a novel reporter for Notch activity based on the promoter of the well characterised Notch target chick Hes5-1, coupled with multiple elements that confer instability, including a destabilized nuclear Venus fluorescent protein and the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of Hes5-1. We demonstrate that this reporter faithfully recapitulates the endogenous expression of Hes5-1 and that it robustly responds to Notch activation in the chick neural tube. Analysis of the patterns of Notch activity revealed by this reporter indicates that although Notch is most frequently activated prior to mitosis it can be activated at any time within the cell cycle. Notch active progenitors undergoing mitosis generate two daughters that both continue to experience Notch signalling. However, cells lacking Notch activity before and during mitosis generate daughters with dissimilar Notch activity profiles. CONCLUSIONS: A novel Notch reporter with multiple destabilisation elements provides a faithful read-out of endogenous Notch activity on a cell-by-cell basis, as neural progenitors progress through the cell cycle in the chick neural tube. Notch activity patterns in this cell population provide evidence for distinct Notch signalling dynamics underlying different cell division modes and for the involvement of random initiation of Notch signalling within the neuroepithelium. These findings highlight the importance of single-cell analysis in the study of the complexity of Notch activity and provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying cell fate decisions in neural progenitors.
Conservation of the Notch signalling pathway in mammalian neurogenesis
Development, 1997
The Notch pathway functions in multiple cell fate determination processes in invertebrate embryos, including the decision between the neuroblast and epidermoblast lineages in Drosophila. In the mouse, targeted mutation of the Notch pathway genes Notch1 and RBP-Jk has demonstrated a role for these genes in somite segmentation, but a function in neurogenesis and in cell fate decisions has not been shown. Here we show that these mutations lead to altered expression of the Notch signalling pathway homologues Hes-5, Mash-1 and Dll1, resulting in enhanced neurogenesis. Precocious neuronal differentiation is indicated by the expanded expression domains of Math4A, neuroD and NSCL-1. The RBP-Jk mutation has stronger effects on expression of these genes than does the Notch1 mutation, consistent with functional redundancy of Notch genes in neurogenesis. Our results demonstrate conservation of the Notch pathway and its regulatory mechanisms from fly to mouse, and support a role for the murine N...