ABSTRACT: Expression profiling of Aldh1l1-precursors in the developing spinal cord reveals glial lineage-specific genes and direct Sox9-Nfe2l1 interactions
Project description:Developmental regulation of gliogenesis in the mammalian CNS is incompletely understood, in part due to a limited repertoire of lineage-specific genes. We used Aldh1l1-GFP as a marker for gliogenic radial glia and later-stage precursors of developing astrocytes and performed gene expression profiling of these cells. We then used this dataset to identify candidate transcription factors that may serve as glial markers or regulators of glial fate. Our analysis generated a database of developmental stage-related markers of Aldh1l1+ cells between murine embryonic day 13.5-18.5. Using these data we identify the bZIP transcription factor Nfe2l1 and demonstrate that it promotes glial fate under direct Sox9 regulatory control. Thus, this dataset represents a resource for identifying novel regulators of glial development. 18 total samples consisting of three biological replicates each of flow sorted embryonic spinal cord Aldh1l1-GFP positive cells and whole cord, spanning the radial glial to astrocyte transition
Project description:Developmental regulation of gliogenesis in the mammalian CNS is incompletely understood, in part due to a limited repertoire of lineage-specific genes. We used Aldh1l1-GFP as a marker for gliogenic radial glia and later-stage precursors of developing astrocytes and performed gene expression profiling of these cells. We then used this dataset to identify candidate transcription factors that may serve as glial markers or regulators of glial fate. Our analysis generated a database of developmental stage-related markers of Aldh1l1+ cells between murine embryonic day 13.5-18.5. Using these data we identify the bZIP transcription factor Nfe2l1 and demonstrate that it promotes glial fate under direct Sox9 regulatory control. Thus, this dataset represents a resource for identifying novel regulators of glial development.
Project description:SOX transcription factors have important roles during astrocyte and oligodendrocyte development, but how glial genes are specified and activated in a sub-lineage specific fashion remains unknown. To address this question, we have defined glial specific gene expression in the developing spinal cord using single-cell RNA-sequencing. Moreover, conducting ChIP-seq analyses we show that these glial gene sets are extensively preselected already in multipotent neural precursor cells through the prebinding by SOX3. In the subsequent lineage-restricted glial precursor cells, astrocyte genes become additionally targeted by SOX9 at DNA-regions strongly enriched for Nfi binding-motifs, whereas oligodendrocyte genes become prebound by SOX9 only, at sites that during oligodendrocyte maturation are targeted by SOX10. Interestingly, reporter gene assays and functional studies in the spinal cord revealed that SOX3 binding represses the synergistic activation of astrocyte genes by SOX9 and NFIA, whereas oligodendrocyte genes are activated in a combinatorial manner by SOX9 and SOX10. These genome-wide studies demonstrate how sequentially expressed SOX proteins act on lineage-specific regulatory DNA-elements to coordinate glial gene expression both in a temporal and sub-lineage specific fashion.
Project description:The spinal cord possesses precise neural circuitry to transmit messages between the brain and body. Detailed transcriptomic profiling of the developing human spinal cord has not been reported. Here, we performed single cell RNA sequencing of developing human spinal cord cells and compared these data with similar mouse spinal cord RNA sequencing datasets. The differentiation tendency of proliferative neural progenitor cells changed from neuronal to glial cells at gestational week (GW) 8 and we identified a diverse set of excitatory, inhibitory and motor neuron cell types. Human ventral neuronal differentiation occurred earlier than GW7, while DI4/5 interneurons are born between GW7–11. We identified glial cell molecular diversity and revealed that ependymal cell specification occurs before birth. We also demonstrate differences between human and mouse spinal cord, including unique cell subtypes, gene expression, neurotransmitter receptors, and glial differentiation timing. Our results offer insight into human spinal cord development.
Project description:The spinal cord is the critical part of the central nervous system. We performed scRNA-seq and Visum spatial RNA-seq to decipher the development of human spinal cord in the embryonic stage. Together, we reveal the dynamics of neural lineage and glial lineage during the development of human spinal cord.
Project description:Recent studies in brain and spinal cord have revealed the heterogenous nature of astrocytes; however, how diverse constituents of astrocyte lineage cells are regulated in adult spinal cord after injury and contribute to regeneration remains elusive. We performed single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) of astrocyte lineage cells from sub-chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) models, identified and compared with the subpopulations in the acute stage data. We found the subpopulations with distinct functional enrichment and their identities defined by subpopulation-specific transcription factors and regulons. Our analyses revealed the molecular signature, location and morphologies of potential residential neural progenitors or neural stem cells in the adult spinal cord before and after injury, and the intermediate cells enriched in neuronal markers that could potentially transition into other subpopulations. The investigation of stage-specific cell-cell communications among astrocyte lineage cells and with other cell types in the tissue generated valuable insight into signaling pathway networks in SCI. This study has significantly expanded the knowledge of the heterogeneity and cell state transition of glial progenitors in adult spinal cord before and after injury.
Project description:Despite the recognized importance of the spinal cord in sensory processing, motor behaviors, and/or neural diseases, the underlying organization of its cells, including both neuronal and non-neuronal clusters remain elusive. Recently, several studies have attempted to define the cellular subtypes in the spinal cord and their functional heterogeneity using single-cell and/or single-nucleus RNA-sequencing in various animal models. However, molecular evidence of cellular heterogeneity in the adult human spinal cord has not yet been established. Here, we sought to classify spinal cord neurons and glial cells from human donors using high-throughput single-nucleus RNA-sequencing. Moreover, we compared the transcriptional patterns obtained in human samples with previously published single-nucleus transcriptomic profiles of the mouse spinal cord. The functional heterogeneity among the identified cell subtypes were also explored by Gene ontology (GO) term analysis. As a result, we generated the first comprehensive transcriptomic atlas of adult human spinal cord neurons and defined 24 neuronal clusters. For glial cells, astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes were divided into ten, eight, and eleven distinct transcriptomic subclusters, respectively. The comparison with mouse transcriptomic profiles revealed an overall similarity in the neuronal composition of the spinal cord between the two species, while simultaneously highlighting some degree of heterogeneity. In summary, these results illustrate the complexity and diversity of neuronal and glial types in the human spinal cord and provide an important resource for future research to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying spinal cord physiology and diseases.
Project description:Salamanders have the remarkable ability to functionally regenerate after spinal cord transection. In response to injury, GFAP+ glial cells in the axolotl spinal cord proliferate and migrate to replace the missing neural tube and create a permissive environment for axon regeneration. Molecular pathways that regulate the pro-regenerative axolotl glial cell response are poorly understood. Here we show axolotl glial cells up-regulate AP-1cFos/JunB after injury, which promotes a pro-regenerative glial cell response. Axolotl glial cells directly repress c-Jun expression via up-regulation of miR-200a. Inhibition of miR-200a during regeneration causes defects in axonal regrowth and transcriptomic analysis revealed that miR-200a inhibition leads to differential regulation of genes involved with reactive gliosis, the glial scar, ECM remodeling and axon guidance. This work identifies a novel role for miR-200a in inhibiting reactive gliosis in glial cell in axolotl during spinal cord regeneration
Project description:Salamanders have the remarkable ability to functionally regenerate after spinal cord transection. In response to injury, GFAP+ glial cells in the axolotl spinal cord proliferate and migrate to replace the missing neural tube and create a permissive environment for axon regeneration. In this paper we show that miR-200a acts to repress expression of Brachyury in sox2 positive progenitor cells in the axoltol spinal cord after spinal cord injury but after tail amputation when multiple tissue types must be regenerated then mir-200a is downregualted allowing progenitor cells in the spinal cord to naturally become bipotent progenitors which can give rise to muscle and neural cell types. When miR-200a is inhibited after spinal cord injury then these cells also express BRachyury cna can form muscle.
Project description:This experiment compares the transcriptome profile of human spinal cord organoids generated from iPSCs in Matrigel, 1% alginate hydrogel, or 2% alginate hydrogel. Spinal cord organoids were generated from human iPSCs and then encapsulated in the respective hydrogels before further maturation. Organoids were harvested on days 30, 60, and 90 for each group. In addition to the differences between hydrogel groups, neuronal and glial markers at each time point were also assessed for the development of the organoids.