First published online March 22, 2007
Development 134, 804e (2007)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Molecular code breaking in the CNS
During the development of the mammalian CNS, multipotent progenitors
generate the three major neural cell lineages (neurons, oligodendrocytes and
astrocytes) at specific times and places. But what coordinates the generation
of these cell types? On p.
1617, Sugimori and co-workers suggest that the combined action of two
classes of transcription factors holds the answer. The researchers use in
vitro (rat neurosphere assay) and in vivo (genetic and gene expression studies
in mice) approaches to examine neurogenesis and oligogenesis in the developing
ventral spinal cord. They report that Pax6, Olig2 and Nkx2.2 - transcription
factors that specify the positional identity of the multipotent progenitors -
are also involved in the timing of neural cell differentiation. These
`patterning factors' do this, the researchers show, by modulating the
activities of proneural (Ngn1, Ngn2, Ngn3 and Mash1) and inhibitory (Id1 and
Hes1) helix-loop-helix transcription factors. Thus, they propose, these two
classes of transcription factors form a molecular code that controls the
spatiotemporal pattern of neuro/gliogenesis.
Related articles in Development:
- Combinatorial actions of patterning and HLH transcription factors in the spatiotemporal control of neurogenesis and gliogenesis in the developing spinal cord
- Michiya Sugimori, Motoshi Nagao, Nicolas Bertrand, Carlos M. Parras, François Guillemot, and Masato Nakafuku
Development 2007 134: 1617-1629.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
