Epigenetic Adaptation Drives Monocyte Differentiation into Microglia-Like Cells Upon Engraftment into the Central Nervous System.

ABSTRACT: The identification of specific markers to distinguish resident microglia from infiltrating monocytes has been a long-standing challenge in neuroscience. Recently, proteins such as P2RY12, TMEM119, and FCRLS have been proposed as microglia-specific and are now widely used to define microglial populations in health and disease. The specificity of these markers was predicated on the assumption that circulating monocytes retain their distinct signatures after entering the central nervous system (CNS). Here, we challenge this paradigm. Using a combination of bone marrow chimeras, single-cell RNA sequencing, ATAC-seq, flow cytometry, and immunohistochemistry, we demonstrate that monocytes engrafting into the CNS acquire de novo expression of these established microglia markers. This phenotypic c

SUBMITTER: Liu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11419019 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature