In vivo nuclear capture and molecular profiling identifies Gmeb1 as a transcriptional regulator essential for dopamine neuron function.

ABSTRACT: Midbrain dopamine (mDA) neurons play a central role in reward signaling and are widely implicated in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. To understand how mDA neurons perform these functions, it is important to understand how mDA-specific genes are regulated. However, cellular heterogeneity in the mammalian brain presents a major challenge to obtaining this understanding. To this end, we developed a virus-based approach to label and capture mDA nuclei for transcriptome (RNA-Seq), and low-input chromatin accessibility (liDNase-Seq) profiling, followed by predictive modeling to identify putative transcriptional regulators of mDA neurons. Using this method, we identified Gmeb1, a transcription factor predicted to regulate expression of Th and Dat, genes critical for dopamine synthesi

SUBMITTER: Tuesta LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6555850 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature