Albert Mareike, Huttner Wieland B
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany.
Front Neurosci. 2018 May 29;12:359. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00359. eCollection 2018.
Neurogenesis is the process through which neural stem and progenitor cells generate neurons. During the development of the mouse neocortex, stem and progenitor cells sequentially give rise to neurons destined to different cortical layers and then switch to gliogenesis resulting in the generation of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Precise spatial and temporal regulation of neural progenitor differentiation is key for the proper formation of the complex structure of the neocortex. Dynamic changes in gene expression underlie the coordinated differentiation program, which enables the cells to generate the RNAs and proteins required at different stages of neurogenesis and across different cell types. Here, we review the contribution of epigenetic mechanisms, with a focus on Polycomb proteins, to the regulation of gene expression programs during mouse neocortical development. Moreover, we discuss the recent emerging concept of epigenetic and transcriptional pre-patterning in neocortical progenitor cells as well as post-transcriptional mechanisms for the fine-tuning of mRNA abundance.
神经发生是神经干细胞和祖细胞产生神经元的过程。在小鼠新皮质发育过程中，干细胞和祖细胞依次产生注定要进入不同皮质层的神经元，然后转向胶质细胞生成，从而产生星形胶质细胞和少突胶质细胞。神经祖细胞分化的精确时空调节是新皮质复杂结构正常形成的关键。基因表达的动态变化是协调分化程序的基础，该程序使细胞能够产生神经发生不同阶段以及不同细胞类型所需的RNA和蛋白质。在这里，我们综述表观遗传机制，特别是多梳蛋白，对小鼠新皮质发育过程中基因表达程序调控的贡献。此外，我们讨论了新皮质祖细胞中表观遗传和转录预模式的最新概念，以及mRNA丰度微调的转录后机制。
