A newly discovered neural stem cell population is generated by the optic lobe neuroepithelium during embryogenesis in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>.

ABSTRACT: Neural stem cells must balance symmetric and asymmetric cell divisions to generate a functioning brain of the correct size. In both the developing Drosophila visual system and mammalian cerebral cortex, symmetrically dividing neuroepithelial cells transform gradually into asymmetrically dividing progenitors that generate neurons and glia. As a result, it has been widely accepted that stem cells in these tissues switch from a symmetric, expansive phase of cell divisions to a later neurogenic phase of cell divisions. In the Drosophila optic lobe, this switch is thought to occur during larval development. However, we have found that neuroepithelial cells start to produce neuroblasts during embryonic development, demonstrating a much earlier role for neuroblasts in the developing

SUBMITTER: Hakes AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6176933 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature