2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Screening for genes involved in temporal and spatial regulation of mammalian neocortical neural progenitors

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22700361
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Neuroscience in general
Research Institution	The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
Principal Investigator	KONNO Daijiro 独立行政法人理化学研究所, 非対称細胞分裂研究グループ, 研究員 (00362715)
Project Period (FY)	2010 – 2011
Keywords	神経幹細胞 / 大脳新皮質
Research Abstract	Here we aimed to identify the genes that are involved in the temporal and spatial regulation of neocortical progenitors by comparing the gene expression profiles of the cells at four different developmental stages of mouse embryos(E10.5, E12.5, E15.5, and E18.5). We found that DmrtA family genes, encoding putative transcription factors, were predominantly expressed in early stages of neuroepithelial cells. We also found that Dmrt3 and Dmrta2 mutants exhibited the abnormal development of the telencephalon. These data thus suggest that Dmrt family genes are involved in the regulation of the spatiotemporal diversity of the process of neuroepithelial cell differentiation.