Coordinated Control of Neuronal Differentiation and Wiring by Sustained Transcription Factors

Overview

Journal Science

Specialty Science

Date 2022 Dec 8

PMID 36480601

Authors

Mehmet Neset Ozel

Claudia Skok Gibbs

Isabel Holguera

Mennah Soliman

Richard Bonneau

Claude Desplan

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The large diversity of cell types in nervous systems presents a challenge in identifying the genetic mechanisms that encode it. Here, we report that nearly 200 distinct neurons in the visual system can each be defined by unique combinations of on average 10 continuously expressed transcription factors. We show that targeted modifications of this terminal selector code induce predictable conversions of neuronal fates that appear morphologically and transcriptionally complete. Cis-regulatory analysis of open chromatin links one of these genes to an upstream patterning factor that specifies neuronal fates in stem cells. Experimentally validated network models describe the synergistic regulation of downstream effectors by terminal selectors and ecdysone signaling during brain wiring. Our results provide a generalizable framework of how specific fates are implemented in postmitotic neurons.

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