A comprehensive temporal patterning gene network in Drosophila medulla neuroblasts revealed by single-cell RNA sequencing
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PROVIDER: PRJNA708282 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
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Project description:During development, neural stem cells are temporally patterned to sequentially generate a variety of neural types before exiting the cell cycle. Temporal patterning is well-studied in Drosophila, where neural stem cells called neuroblasts sequentially express cascades of Temporal Transcription Factors (TTFs) to control the birth-order dependent neural specification. However, currently known TTFs were mostly identified through candidate antibody screening and may not be complete. In addition, many fundamental questions remain concerning the TTF cascade initiation, progression, and termination. It is also not known why temporal progression only happens in neuroblasts but not in their differentiated progeny. In this work, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing of Drosophila medulla neuroblasts of all ages to study the temporal patterning process with single-cell resolution. Our scRNA-seq data revealed that sets of genes involved in different biological processes show high to low or low to high gradients as neuroblasts age. We also identified a list of novel TTFs, and experimentally characterized their roles in the temporal progression and neural fate specification. Our study revealed a comprehensive temporal gene network that patterns medulla neuroblasts from start to end. Furthermore, we found that the progression and termination of this temporal cascade also require transcription factors differentially expressed along the differentiation axis (neuroblasts -> -> neurons). Lola proteins function as a speed modulator of temporal progression in neuroblasts; while Nerfin-1, a factor required to suppress de-differentiation in post-mitotic neurons, acts at the final temporal stage together with the last TTF of the cascade, to promote the switch to gliogenesis and the cell cycle exit. Our comprehensive study of the medulla neuroblast temporal cascade illustrated mechanisms that might be conserved in the temporal patterning of neural stem cells.
2021-12-27 | GSE168553 | GEO
Project description:In the Drosophila optic lobes, the medulla processes visual information coming from inner photoreceptors R7 and R8 and from lamina neurons. It contains approximately 40,000 neurons belonging to more than 70 different types. Here we describe how precise temporal patterning of neural progenitors generates these different neural types. Five transcription factors-Homothorax, Eyeless, Sloppy paired, Dichaete and Tailless-are sequentially expressed in a temporal cascade in each of the medulla neuroblasts as they age. Loss of Eyeless, Sloppy paired or Dichaete blocks further progression of the temporal sequence. We provide evidence that this temporal sequence in neuroblasts, together with Notch-dependent binary fate choice, controls the diversification of the neuronal progeny. Although a temporal sequence of transcription factors had been identified in Drosophila embryonic neuroblasts, our work illustrates the generality of this strategy, with different sequences of transcription factors being used in different contexts.
| S-EPMC3701960 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In this work, we show that the expression of one temporal transcription factor(TTF), Sloppy-paired (Slp), in the Drosophila medulla TTF cascade, is regulated directly by two other TTFs and the Notch signaling pathway. We show that the previous TTF, Eyeless, another TTF Scro and Su(H)/NICD regulate the transcription of Slp through binding to two cis-regulatory elements in the slp locus. Slp expression is delayed when Notch signaling is lost or when cell cycle progression is blocked, which also cause loss of Notch signaling. Furthermore, we show that supplying Notch signaling can rescue the delayed Slp expression in cell-cycle arrested neuroblasts. Thus our work demonstrates that Notch signaling cooperates with TTFs to promote the progression of the TTF transcriptional cascade.
2022-08-10 | GSE188643 | GEO
Project description:Spatial patterning of neural stem cell populations is a powerful mechanism by which to generate neuronal diversity. In the developing Drosophila medulla, the symmetrically dividing stem cells of the outer proliferation center (OPC) crescent are spatially patterned by the non-overlapping expression of three transcription factors: Vsx1 in the center, Optix in the adjacent arms and Rx in the tips. These spatial genes compartmentalize the OPC and, together with the temporal patterning of the neuroblasts derived from the OPC, act to diversify medulla neuronal fates. The observation that the dorsal and ventral halves of the OPC grow as distinct compartments, together with the fact that a subset of neuronal types are generated from only one half of the crescent, suggests that additional transcription factors spatially pattern the OPC along the D-V axis. Here, we identify the spalt (salm and salr) and disco (disco and disco-r) genes as the D-V patterning transcription factors of the OPC. Spalt and Disco are differentially expressed in the dorsal and ventral OPC from the embryo through to the third instar larva, where they cross-repress each other to form a sharp dorsal-ventral boundary. We show that hedgehog is necessary for disco expression in the embryonic optic placode and that disco is subsequently required for the development of the ventral OPC and its neuronal progeny. We further demonstrate that this D-V patterning axis acts independently of Vsx1-Optix-Rx and thus propose that Spalt and Disco represent a third OPC patterning axis that may act to further diversify medulla fates.
2022-09-19 | GSE205934 | GEO
Project description:One neural stem cell can produce multiple transiently amplifying, intermediate neural progenitors (INP), which collectively yield diverse neuronal types. It is unclear if and how serially derived INPs contribute to neuron fate diversification. Drosophila type II neuroblasts, like mammalian neural stem cells, deposit neurons and also glia through INPs. The consecutively born INPs in a given lineage produce morphologically distinct progeny, presumably due to their inheritance of different temporal factors from the INP-producing progenitor. To uncover the underlying temporal fating mechanisms, we profiled type II neuroblasts' transcriptome across time. Our results reveal opposing temporal gradients of Imp and Syp RNA-binding proteins (descending and ascending, respectively). Maintaining high Imp throughout serial INP production expands the number of neurons/glia with early temporal fate at the expense of cells with late fate. Conversely, precocious upregulation of Syp reduces the number of cells with early fate. Further, we reveal that the transcription factor, Seven-up initiates progression of the Imp/Syp gradients. Interestingly, neuroblasts apparently locked in their beginning Imp/Syp levels can still yield progeny with a small range of early fates. We propose that the Seven-up-initiated Imp/Syp gradients create coarse temporal windows within type II neuroblasts to pattern INPs, which subsequently undergo fine-tuned subtemporal patterning.
2018-01-23 | GSE94445 | GEO
Project description:Neural cell type diversity arises from both spatial and temporal patterning of neural stem cells. Although spatial patterning mechanisms have been extensively studied, temporal patterning mechanisms remain relatively unexplored. In this study, we addressed generation of diverse neural cell types through lineage progression of mouse cortical radial glia. The time series scRNA-seq and snATAC-seq of mouse cortical development revealed that radial glia temporally transitioned from neurogenesis to gliogenesis. During gliogenic stages, various cell types were generated simultaneously along multidirectional lineage trajectories. We established comprehensive molecular maps for cortical lineage commitment and cellular diversification. The transcriptome and epigenome of cortical radial glia exhibit temporal dynamics, as revealed by scRNA-seq and snATAC-seq. Lhx2, a transcription factor with temporal dynamic chromatin binding activities, was identified as a key regulator of the neurogenesis-to-gliogenesis transition. It maintains neurogenic competence by establishing the active epigenetic state of its target genes.
2024-09-03 | GSE276209 | GEO
Project description:Neural stem cells (NSCs) generate highly diverse neurons over time by acquiring new features, a phenomenon called as temporal patterning. However the mechanisms underlying temporal patterning still remains poorly understood. Here, we describe a method that allows to isolate different temporal stages of Drosophila transit amplifying cells called intermediate neural porgenitors (INPs). We identified odd-paired (opa) as the regulator of the transition from first to second temporal stages, which are defined by D and Grh expression. We demonstrated that opa is required for correct neural output and brain morphology. We showed that opa achieves this transition via repressing D. Together with upstream SWI/SNF complex, D and opa forms an incoheren feed forward loop, which results in successive expression of temporal identities.
2019-07-29 | GSE127516 | GEO
Project description:The brain consists of hundreds or thousands of different neuronal types that are generated through multiple divisions of neuronal stem cells. These stem cells have the capacity to generate different neuronal types at different stages of their development. In Drosophila, this temporal patterning is driven by the successive expression of temporal transcription factors (tTFs). While a number of tTFs are known in different animals and across various parts of the nervous system, these have been mostly identified by informed guesses and antibody availability. We used single-cell mRNA sequencing to identify the likely complete series of tTFs that specify most Drosophila medulla neurons in the optic lobe. We tested the genetic interactions among these tTFs. While we verify the general principle that tTFs regulate the progression of the series by activating the next tTFs in the series and repressing the previous ones, we also identify more complex regulations. Two of the tTFs, Eyeless and Dichaete, act as hubs integrating the input of several upstream tTFs before allowing the series to progress and in turn regulating the expression of several tTFs. Moreover, we show that tTFs not only specify neuronal identity but also control subsequent neuronal differentiation. We find that terminal differentiation genes, such as neurotransmitter-related genes, are present as transcripts, but not as proteins, in immature larval neurons days before they are being used in functioning neurons; we show that these mechanisms are conserved in humans. Our results offer a comprehensive description of a temporal series of tTFs in a neuronal system, offering mechanistic insights into the regulation of the progression of the series and the regulation of neuronal diversity. This represents a proof-of-principle for the use of single-cell mRNA sequencing for the comparison of temporal patterning across phyla that can lead to an understanding of how the human brain develops and how it has evolved.
2022-01-01 | GSE167266 | GEO
Project description:Generating diverse neurons involves spatially distinct neural stem cells that show age dependent developmental fates. Drosophila neuroblasts produce long, diverse yet stereotyped series of distinct neurons, called lineages. We searched for novel temporal factors that could pattern such extended lineages by RNA-sequencing of specific neuroblasts at various developmental times. We found that two RNA-binding proteins, Imp and Syp, display opposing high-to-low and low-to-high temporal gradients with distinct dynamics in specific lineages. Manipulating Imp/Syp levels in mushroom body neuroblasts revealed opposing roles in the specification of early and late temporal fates, primarily via regulation of Chinmo translation. This study implicates the opposing Imp/Syp gradients as temporal morphogens that encode stem cell age and govern birth time-dependent offspring cell fate through post-transcriptional regulation of temporal dentity genes.
2015-10-21 | GSE71103 | GEO
Project description:Proper neural function depends on the correct specification of individual neural fates, controlled by combinations of neuronal transcription factors. Different neural types are sequentially generated by neural progenitors in a defined order, and this temporal patterning process can be controlled by Temporal Transcription Factors (TTFs) that form temporal cascades in neural progenitors. The Drosophila medulla, part of the visual processing center of the brain, contains more than 70 neural types generated by medulla neuroblasts which sequentially express several TTFs, including Homothorax (Hth), eyeless (Ey), Sloppy paired 1 and 2 (Slp), Dichaete (D) and Tailless (Tll). However, it is not clear how such a small number of TTFs could give rise to diverse combinations of neuronal transcription factors that specify a large number of medulla neuron types. Here we report how temporal patterning specifies one neural type, the T1 neuron. We show that the T1 neuron is the only medulla neuron type that expresses the combination of three transcription factors Ocelliless (Oc or Otd), Sox102F and Ets65A. Using CRISPR-Cas9 system, we show that each transcription factor is required for the correct morphogenesis of T1 neurons. Interestingly, Oc, Sox102F and Ets65A initiate expression in neurons beginning at different temporal stages and last in a few subsequent temporal stages. Oc expressing neurons are generated in the Ey, Slp and D stages; Sox102F expressing neurons are produced in the Slp and D stages; while Ets65A is expressed in subsets of medulla neurons born in the D and later stages. The TTF Ey, Slp or D is required to initiate the expression of Oc, Sox102F or Ets65A in neurons, respectively. Thus, the neurons expressing all three transcription factors are born in the D stage and become T1 neurons. In neurons where the three transcription factors do not overlap, each of the three transcription factors can act in combination with other neuronal transcription factors to specify different neural fates. We show that this way of expression regulation of neuronal transcription factors by temporal patterning can generate more possible combinations of transcription factors in neural progeny to diversify neural fates.
| S-EPMC7377279 | biostudies-literature