Neurogenesis articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The dynamics of progenitor cells in human neocortex development has not been studied directly. Here, the authors timelapse image human neuroepithelial (NE) and radial glial (RG) cells in embryonic brain slices and find properties of NE cells and RG that are mimicked in cerebral organoids.

    • Lakshmi Subramanian
    • , Marina Bershteyn
    •  & Arnold R. Kriegstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular mechanisms that control the division of neural progenitor cells are only partially understood. Here the authors show that Diaph3 is critical for spindle checkpoint activity in cortical progenitor cells as the loss of Diaph3 leads to apoptosis of progenitor cells and eventually results in microcephaly in mice.

    • Devid Damiani
    • , André M. Goffinet
    •  & Fadel Tissir

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanism by which adult-born neurons quickly adjust olfactory bulb network functioning is not understood. Here the authors describe a novel form of structural plasticity in which mature spines relocate toward active mitral cell dendrite along spine head filopodia via AMPA and BDNF mediated signalling.

    • Vincent Breton-Provencher
    • , Karen Bakhshetyan
    •  & Armen Saghatelyan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Human mutations in the NDE1 gene have been associated with cortical malformations and severe microcephaly. Here, the authors show in embryonic rat brains that NDE1-depleted neural progenitors arrest at three specific cell cycle stages before mitosis, resulting in a severe decrease in neurogenesis.

    • David J. Doobin
    • , Shahrnaz Kemal
    •  & Richard B. Vallee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The molecular signals regulating the decision of neural stem cells (NSC) to proliferate versus differentiate are unclear. Here, the authors identify the nuclear receptor NR5A2 as coordinating cell-cycle exit with differentiation of NSCs via direct actions on Ink4, Prox1, Notch1 and JAK/STAT.

    • Athanasios Stergiopoulos
    •  & Panagiotis K. Politis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The outer subventricular zone (OSVZ) contains basal radial glial cells (bRGC) involved in cortical expansion in gyrencephalic mammals. Here the authors identify a developmental time window with marked production of bRGCs required to found the OSVZ that is dependent on coincident downregulation of Cdh1 and Trnp1.

    • Maria Ángeles Martínez-Martínez
    • , Camino De Juan Romero
    •  & Víctor Borrell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Postnatal growth of the pons is not well characterized. Here the authors show that growth of the murine pons is fastest during postnatal day 0–4, a period preceding myelination, and is primarily driven by an expansion of the oligodendrocyte population that derive from Sox2+Olig2+progenitors.

    • Robert A. Lindquist
    • , Cristina D. Guinto
    •  & Arturo Alvarez-Buylla

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Astrocytes in the brain are derived from neural precursor cells (NPCs). Here, Motoshi Nagao and colleagues show that the transcription repressor Zbtb20 regulates astrocyte specification in the mouse neocortex.

    • Motoshi Nagao
    • , Toru Ogata
    •  & Yukiko Gotoh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    New neurons are continuously produced throughout adulthood in the hippocampus. Here the authors provide evidence that adult hippocampal neurogenesis weakens existing memories, and facilitates the encoding of new, confliction information in mice.

    • Jonathan R. Epp
    • , Rudy Silva Mera
    •  & Paul W. Frankland

  • Article
    | Open Access

    GABAergic interneurons are key components of cortical circuits, yet their early connectivity is unknown. Here the authors show that during early postnatal development,Nkx2-1-derived interneurons engage in layer-specific and dynamic circuits, which are distinct from those in the mature neocortex.

    • Paul G. Anastasiades
    • , Andre Marques-Smith
    •  & Simon J. B. Butt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The extracellular matrix is suggested to play a role in neurogenesis, but it is unclear what role integrin signalling may play in the developing neuroepithelium. Here, in chick, Long et al. show that expression of constitutively active integrin beta-1 enhances neurogenesis via a novel Wnt7 and decorin pathway.

    • K. Long
    • , L. Moss
    •  & C. ffrench-Constant

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The molecular mechanisms behind how autophagy may impact on developmental pathways and cell fate decisions are unclear. Here Wu et al.identify Notch receptors being taken up into ATG16L1-positive autophagosomes and, using a mouse mutant model, show that changes in autophagy can impact on stem cell fate.

    • Xiaoting Wu
    • , Angeleen Fleming
    •  & David C. Rubinsztein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Epigenetic regulation plays a key role in cortical development. Here the authors show that Rcor2, a co-repressor of the histone demethylase LSD1/KDM1A complex, regulates neural progenitor cell proliferation and cortical neurogenesis by repressing sonic hedgehog signaling.

    • Yixuan Wang
    • , Qian Wu
    •  & Xiaoqun Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Adult hippocampal neurogenesis is involved in the response to stress but whether it exerts a positive or negative effect remains unclear. Here the authors ablate hippocampal neurogenesis in mice and find that the effects on anxiety behaviour depend on the time of day, and that neurogenesis specifically impairs the response to stress during the dark cycle.

    • Cheng-Yu Tsai
    • , Ching-Yen Tsai
    •  & Guo-Jen Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Selective biallelic expression of certain genes through genomic imprinting are known to play a role in controlling neurogenesis in the adult mammalian brain. Here the authors investigate the role of imprinting in the dosage control of Igf2 and its relevance for the function of IGF2 as a neurogenic regulator in the mouse brain.

    • S. R. Ferrón
    • , E. J. Radford
    •  & A. C. Ferguson-Smith

  • Article |

    Cranial placode progenitors arise from a common precursor field known as the preplacodal region. Here the authors show that transcription factor Zic1 induces the localized production and transport of retinoic acid at the anterior neural plate, which in turn activates a placode developmental programme in neighbouring cells.

    • Maria Belen Jaurena
    • , Hugo Juraver-Geslin
    •  & Jean-Pierre Saint-Jeannet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neurons in the brain are more susceptible to oxidative stress than astroglial cells but the molecular basis and biological reasons for this are poorly understood. Here the authors show that developing cortical neurons have reduced levels of the antioxidant transcription factor Nrf2 due to epigenetic silencing and that this is necessary for proper neuronal development.

    • Karen F.S. Bell
    • , Bashayer Al-Mubarak
    •  & Giles E. Hardingham

  • Article |

    During vertebrate embryogenesis, migration of neuronal cell bodies and axons occurs simultaneously, but to what degree they influence each other’s development remains unclear. Here the authors find that in the mouse spinal cord commissural axons influence neuronal migration in two different ways.

    • Christophe Laumonnerie
    • , Yong Guang Tong
    •  & Sara I. Wilson

  • Article |

    Differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into neural lineages involves epigenetic changes. Here the authors show that transient histone deacetylation promotes the transition from epiblast stem cells to neural progenitors during mouse ESC differentiation and show that this effect is partly mediated by the restriction of Nodal signalling by histone deacetylase 1.

    • Pingyu Liu
    • , Xiaoyang Dou
    •  & Naihe Jing

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Aberrant hippocampal neurogenesis often occurs after acute seizures that produce epilepsy and cognitive impairment but the role of neurogenesis in the development of epilepsy is unclear. Here the authors suppress adult neurogenesis in mice preceding seizures and show that it reduces subsequent chronic seizure frequency and epilepsy-associated cognitive decline.

    • Kyung-Ok Cho
    • , Zane R. Lybrand
    •  & Jenny Hsieh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In asymmetrically dividing cells, both spindle-dependent and spindle-independent cleavage furrow positioning pathways are involved in cytokinesis. Here the authors find that Survivin and the mitotic spindle are required to stabilize the position of the cleavage furrow and to complete cytokinesis in Drosophilaneuroblasts.

    • Michaela Roth
    • , Chantal Roubinet
    •  & Clemens Cabernard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Autism genes converge in midfetal cortical co-expression networks, and chromatin regulators such as CHD8 are increasingly associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here the authors map CHD8 targets in developing brain, and find that CHD8 directly regulates other ASD risk genes during human neurodevelopment.

    • Justin Cotney
    • , Rebecca A. Muhle
    •  & James P. Noonan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Epileptic seizures generate aberrant neurogenesis in the adult mouse hippocampal region but how animals cope with abnormal neurogenesis remains unknown. Here the authors show that microglia are activated through TLR9 signaling and that this leads to sustained expression of TNF-α which attenuates induced aberrant neurogenesis.

    • Taito Matsuda
    • , Naoya Murao
    •  & Kinichi Nakashima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mutations in the enzyme glycine decarboxylase (GLDC) are associated with neural tube closure defects and non-ketotic hyperglycinemia in humans. Here the authors generate a mouse model with reduced Gldc expression and activity and study the direct effect of the enzyme in these diseases and the mechanisms responsible for neural tube closure defects.

    • Yun Jin Pai
    • , Kit-Yi Leung
    •  & Nicholas D.E. Greene

  • Article |

    The spatial orientation of cell divisions is fundamental for tissue architecture and homeostasis but the extracellular cues regulating this process are largely unknown. Here, the authors show that Semaphorin3B released from the floor plate and the nascent choroid plexus controls progenitor division orientation in the developing mouse spinal cord.

    • Elise Arbeille
    • , Florie Reynaud
    •  & Valérie Castellani

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The bilaterian central nervous system is thought to have evolved from a cnidarian-like ancestor, but the mechanisms of neural induction in cnidarians are largely unknown. Here the authors study the cnidarian Nematostella vectensisand show that β-catenin signalling is crucial for the early induction of its embryonic nervous system, suggesting evolutionary roots for this pathway.

    • Hiroshi Watanabe
    • , Anne Kuhn
    •  & Thomas W. Holstein

  • Article |

    Microglia colonize germinal regions of the developing cerebral cortex and contribute to the regulation of neurogenesis but the mechanisms that regulate this are not clear. Here the authors show that brain progenitor cells, through the secretion of the chemokine Cxcl12, drive microglia to cluster into the germinal regions of the developing mouse cerebral cortex.

    • Benedetta Arnò
    • , Francesca Grassivaro
    •  & Luca Muzio

  • Article |

    Methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) is phosphorylated in neurons in response to neuronal activity. Here, Li et al.show that it is also phosphorylated by aurora kinase B in neural progenitor cells, and cell cycle-dependent phosphorylation of MeCP2 regulates the balance between proliferation and differentiation via Notch signalling.

    • Hongda Li
    • , Xiaofen Zhong
    •  & Qiang Chang

  • Article |

    The intracellular redox protein MICAL plays an important role during Drosophilanervous system development but the function of its vertebrate homologue remains unknown. Here the authors show that MICAL-1 regulates targeting of secretory vesicles containing IgCAMs to the neuronal growth cone in mice and plays a role in hippocampal connectivity.

    • Eljo Y. Van Battum
    • , Rou-Afza F. Gunput
    •  & R. Jeroen Pasterkamp

  • Article |

    Atypical protein kinase C (aPKC) is expressed in the apical complex of epithelial cells, which is required for maintaining the polarity of epithelial cells. Herrera et al. show that stable beta-catenin signalling prevents this process by restricting aPKC expression and disrupting apical complex function.

    • Antonio Herrera
    • , Murielle Saade
    •  & Sebastian Pons

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hes1 is an important regulator of progenitor maintenance and timed differentiation, which shows oscillatory expression. Here, the authors combine experimental data and mathematical modelling to show that the interaction between miRNA-9 and Hes1 can predict progenitor transition from one cell state to another, as well as the timing of this transition.

    • Marc Goodfellow
    • , Nicholas E. Phillips
    •  & Nancy Papalopulu

  • Article |

    The E3 ubiquitin ligase APC/C plays a critical role in cell cycle progression. In this study, Delgado-Esteban et al. show that APC/C bound to the co-factor Cdh1 is necessary for neural progenitor cell maintenance and neuronal differentiation.

    • Maria Delgado-Esteban
    • , Irene García-Higuera
    •  & Angeles Almeida

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Amplification of neural progenitor cells mediates expansion of brain regions. Using imaging of progenitor cell amplification in the mouse ventral forebrain, the authors identify a new progenitor type with high frequency, which they also show to be present in expanded brain regions of other species.

    • Gregor-Alexander Pilz
    • , Atsunori Shitamukai
    •  & Magdalena Götz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The atypical RhoGTPase Rnd3 is implicated in the regulation of neuronal migration in the embryonic cerebral cortex. Using gene silencing techniques, Pacary and colleagues find that Rnd3 is also involved in earlier stages of neurogenesis, by modulating actin filament polymerization and cyclin D1 translation.

    • Emilie Pacary
    • , Roberta Azzarelli
    •  & François Guillemot

  • Article |

    Adult neurogenesis in the mammalian brain is implicated in the storage and processing of memories. Vivaret al.label afferents to new dentate gyrus granule cells and find that they receive direct input from the perirhinal and lateral entorhinal cortex and that these inputs enable spatial pattern separation.

    • Carmen Vivar
    • , Michelle C. Potter
    •  & Henriette van Praag

  • Article |

    The paratympanic organ in the avian middle ear is similar to the fish spiracular organ, but its developmental origin is unresolved. O'Neillet al. use fate mapping techniques to show that the avian paratympanic organ and its afferent neurons arise from a previously undiscovered neurogenic placode.

    • Paul O'Neill
    • , Siu-Shan Mak
    •  & Clare V.H. Baker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Asymmetric partitioning of centrosomes has been reported inDrosophilaneuroblasts, but whether this type of division has implications for stem cell self-renewal is unclear. In this study, the authors show that the asymmetric division of the centrosomes correlates with the asymmetric fate of the cells and that the daughter centrosome is retained by the neuroblast.

    • Jens Januschke
    • , Salud Llamazares
    •  & Cayetano Gonzalez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During neurogenesis, neural stem and progenitor cells can either proliferate or produce neurons. Here, the authors show that proliferating neural stem and progenitor cells have a longer S-phase portion of the cell cycle than cells committed to neuron production, suggesting that this may enable faithful DNA replication.

    • Yoko Arai
    • , Jeremy N. Pulvers
    •  & Wieland B. Huttner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It was previously thought that the nerves in the pectoral fin of fish came solely from the spinal cord. Here, motoneurons in ray-finned fish are shown to also originate from the hindbrain, demonstrating that innervation was from both the hindbrain and the spinal cord in ancesteral vertebrates.

    • Leung-Hang Ma
    • , Edwin Gilland
    •  & Robert Baker

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