Extensive transcriptional and chromatin changes underlie astrocyte maturation in vivo and in culture.

ABSTRACT: Astrocytes have essential functions in brain homeostasis that are established late in differentiation, but the mechanisms underlying the functional maturation of astrocytes are not well understood. Here we identify extensive transcriptional changes that occur during murine astrocyte maturation in vivo that are accompanied by chromatin remodelling at enhancer elements. Investigating astrocyte maturation in a cell culture model revealed that in vitro-differentiated astrocytes lack expression of many mature astrocyte-specific genes, including genes for the transcription factors Rorb, Dbx2, Lhx2 and Fezf2. Forced expression of these factors in vitro induces distinct sets of mature astrocyte-specific transcripts. Culturing astrocytes in a three-dimensional matrix containing FGF2 induces express

SUBMITTER: Lattke M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8282848 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature