When it comes to cell types, the cerebral cortex is one of the most diverse regions in the mammalian brain. Mouse cortical neurons are generated during development from radial glial cells (RGCs). But how these stem cells generate the different neuronal subtypes is still an open question. In the adult, transcription factors, specially homeobox genes, have been identified as determinants of neuronal types throughout the animal kingdom. Thus, in this study, we hypothesise that different subpopulations of neuronal progenitors (RGCs) give rise to subsequent subtypes of neurons in the cortex, and these populations can be defined by homeobox gene expression. Starting from a scRNA- seq analysis, we identified differentially expressed genes across different progenitor populations in the developing cortex: Adnp2, Homez and Hmbox1. We characterised their mRNA and protein expression across cortical layers in postnatal mice and found that these genes are also differentially expressed among layers. We also find discordances between scRNA-seq data, mRNA expression, and protein expression data that could indicate specific post-transcriptional regulation of these genes. Altogether, these results point to a role of homeobox genes in neuronal identity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-503676 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Gonzalez Aspe, Ines |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för biologisk grundutbildning, Instituto Cajal |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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