Department of Genetics & Tumor Cell Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America.
PLoS Biol. 2010 Aug 17;8(8):e1000460. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000460.
The dentate gyrus has an important role in learning and memory, and adult neurogenesis in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus may play a role in the acquisition of new memories. The homeobox gene Prox1 is expressed in the dentate gyrus during embryonic development and adult neurogenesis. Here we show that Prox1 is necessary for the maturation of granule cells in the dentate gyrus during development and for the maintenance of intermediate progenitors during adult neurogenesis. We also demonstrate that Prox1-expressing intermediate progenitors are required for adult neural stem cell self-maintenance in the subgranular zone; thus, we have identified a previously unknown non-cell autonomous regulatory feedback mechanism that controls adult neurogenesis in this region of the mammalian brain. Finally, we show that the ectopic expression of Prox1 induces premature differentiation of neural stem cells.
齿状回在学习和记忆中具有重要作用，而齿状回颗粒下区的成年神经发生可能在新记忆的获得中发挥作用。同源盒基因 Prox1 在胚胎发育和成年神经发生过程中表达于齿状回。在这里，我们显示 Prox1 对于发育过程中颗粒细胞的成熟以及成年神经发生过程中中间祖细胞的维持是必需的。我们还证明，表达 Prox1 的中间祖细胞对于颗粒下区中的成年神经干细胞自我维持是必需的；因此，我们已经确定了一种以前未知的非细胞自主调节反馈机制，该机制控制着哺乳动物大脑这一区域的成年神经发生。最后，我们发现 Prox1 的异位表达诱导神经干细胞的过早分化。
