Insm1 (IA-1) is an essential component of the regulatory network that specifies monoaminergic neuronal phenotypes in the vertebrate hindbrain.

ABSTRACT: Monoaminergic neurons include the physiologically important central serotonergic and noradrenergic subtypes. Here, we identify the zinc-finger transcription factor, Insm1, as a crucial mediator of the differentiation of both subtypes, and in particular the acquisition of their neurotransmitter phenotype. Insm1 is expressed in hindbrain progenitors of monoaminergic neurons as they exit the cell cycle, in a pattern that partially overlaps with the expression of the proneural factor Ascl1. Consistent with this, a conserved cis-regulatory sequence associated with Insm1 is bound by Ascl1 in the hindbrain, and Ascl1 is essential for the expression of Insm1 in the ventral hindbrain. In Insm1-null mutant mice, the expression of the serotonergic fate determinants Pet1, Lmx1b and Gata2 is markedly d

SUBMITTER: Jacob J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2729354 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature