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First published online January 10, 2007
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/dev.02750

Development 134, 625-634 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
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Neurogenic role of Gcm transcription factors is conserved in chicken spinal cord

Laurent Soustelle1,*, Françoise Trousse2,*, Cécile Jacques1, Julian Ceron1,{dagger}, Philippe Cochard2, Cathy Soula2 and Angela Giangrande1,{ddagger}

1 Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS/INSERM/ULP, B.P.10142, 67404 Illkirch Cedex, C.U. de Strasbourg, France.
2 Centre de Biologie du Développement, UMR5547 CNRS/UPS, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex, France.

{ddagger} Author for correspondence (e-mail: angela{at}titus.u-strasbg.fr)

Accepted 20 November 2006

Although glial cells missing (gcm) genes are known as glial determinants in the fly embryo, the role of vertebrate orthologs in the central nervous system is still under debate. Here we show for the first time that the chicken ortholog of fly gcm (herein referred to as c-Gcm1), is expressed in early neuronal lineages of the developing spinal cord and is required for neural progenitors to differentiate as neurons. Moreover, c-Gcm1 overexpression is sufficient to trigger cell cycle exit and neuronal differentiation in neural progenitors. Thus, c-Gcm1 expression constitutes a crucial step in the developmental cascade that prompts progenitors to generate neurons: c-Gcm1 acts downstream of proneural (neurogenin) and progenitor (Sox1-3) factors and upstream of NeuroM neuronal differentiation factor. Strikingly, this neurogenic role is not specific to the vertebrate gene, as fly gcm and gcm2 are also sufficient to induce the expression of neuronal markers. Interestingly, the neurogenic role is restricted to post-embryonic stages and we identify two novel brain neuronal lineages expressing and requiring gcm genes. Finally, we show that fly gcm and the chick and mouse orthologs induce expression of neural markers in HeLa cells. These data, which demonstrate a conserved neurogenic role for Gcm transcription factors, call for a re-evaluation of the mode of action of these genes during evolution.

Key words: Drosophila melanogaster, Chicken, glial cells missing, Neurogenesis


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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2007