LET-381/FoxF and its target UNC-30/Pitx2 specify and maintain the molecular identity of C. elegans mesodermal glia that regulate motor behavior.

ABSTRACT: While most glial cell types in the central nervous system (CNS) arise from neuroectodermal progenitors, some, like microglia, are mesodermally derived. To understand mesodermal glia development and function, we investigated C. elegans GLR glia, which envelop the brain neuropil and separate it from the circulatory system cavity. Transcriptome analysis shows that GLR glia combine astrocytic and endothelial characteristics, which are relegated to separate cell types in vertebrates. Combined fate acquisition is orchestrated by LET-381/FoxF, a fate-specification/maintenance transcription factor also expressed in glia and endothelia of other animals. Among LET-381/FoxF targets, the UNC-30/Pitx2 transcription factor controls GLR glia morphology and represses alternative mesodermal fates. LET-381

SUBMITTER: Stefanakis N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10943081 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature