Antagonism between the transcription factors NANOG and OTX2 specifies rostral or caudal cell fate during neural patterning transition.

ABSTRACT: During neurogenesis, neural patterning is a critical step during which neural progenitor cells differentiate into neurons with distinct functions. However, the molecular determinants that regulate neural patterning remain poorly understood. Here we optimized the "dual SMAD inhibition" method to specifically promote differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into forebrain and hindbrain neural progenitor cells along the rostral-caudal axis. We report that neural patterning determination occurs at the very early stage in this differentiation. Undifferentiated hPSCs expressed basal levels of the transcription factor orthodenticle homeobox 2 (OTX2) that dominantly drove hPSCs into the "default" rostral fate at the beginning of differentiation. Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinas

SUBMITTER: Su Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5868256 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature