Project description:mESCs treated with retinoic acid (RA) and a Shh agonist (SAG) recapitulated ventral hindbrain development and produced a population of neural progenitors with a minor presence of other cell types.
Project description:mESCs treated with retinoic acid (RA) and a Shh agonist (SAG) recapitulated ventral hindbrain development and produced a population of neural progenitors with a minor presence of other cell types.
Project description:Dorso-ventral (DV) patterning at the Shoot Apical meristem (SAM) is essential for organogenesis in Arabidopsis. Dorsal and ventral gene expressed domains are separated by boundaries from where the new organ initiation starts. Here by using cell-types specific transcriptomics approach, we have identified doral, ventral and boundary specific genes in SAM.
Project description:Serotonin (5-HT) neurons, the major components of the raphe nuclei, arise from ventral hindbrain progenitors. Based on the anatomical location and axonal projection, 5-HT neurons are coarsely divided into rostral and caudal groups. Here, we propose a novel strategy to generate hindbrain 5-HT neurons from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), which involves the formation of ventral-type neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and stimulation of the hindbrain 5-HT neural development. A caudalizing agent, retinoid acid (RA), was used to direct the cells into the hindbrain cell fate. Approximately 30-40% of hPSCs successfully developed into 5-HT-expressing neurons using our protocol, with the majority acquiring a caudal rhombomere identity (r5-8). We further modified our monolayer differentiation system to generate 5-HT neuron-enriched hindbrain-like organoids. We have also suggested downstream applications of our 5-HT monolayer and organoid cultures to study neuronal response to gut microbiota. Our methodology could become a powerful tool for future studies related to 5-HT neurotransmission.
Project description:We generated single RNA-seq data to measure transcriptional profiles of 14 hESC-derived neuronal populations, representing distinct regions along the dorsoventral and rostrocaudal axes of the developing hindbrain and human spinal cord. These cells are differentiated using a modular protocol that first induces collinear activation of region-specific HOX genes by exposure to FGF8 and Wnt signaling (Lippmann et al, 2015 PMID:25843047). By transitioning to media containing retinoic acid (RA), SB-431542, and LDN-193189, we generate dedicated posterior central nervous system progenitors with unique rostrocaudal identities. Dorsal patterning by BMP4 or ventral patterning by Sonic hedgehog agonists (smoothened agonist (SAG) and Purmorphamine (Pur)), followed by DAPT gave rise to somatosensory or locomotor neuronal cultures. In total we recovered the transcriptomes of 46,959 cells. Analysis verified expression of increasingly caudal HOX paralogs that could be correlated to hindbrain (HOX1-5; H24, H48, and H72), cervical (HOX1-8; H72 and H120), thoracic (HOX1-9; H168), and thoracolumbar (HOX1-11; H216 and H216R) spinal regions. The dataset also includes representation from major cardinal neuron types. Comparison with existing mouse and human datasets revealed the overall similarity between in vitro-derived and in vivo neurons. Moreover, we detect hundreds of transcriptional markers within region-specific neuronal phenotypes, enabling discovery of novel gene expression patterns along the human developmental axes.
Project description:Purpose: The goal of this study is to understand the progressive patterning of neurogenesis of the developing zebrafish hindbrain. 16hpf, 24hpf and 44hpf zebrafish hindbrains were used for single-cell RNA-sequencing with the aim to uncover hindbrain development. Methods: 40 microdissected hindbrains per each stage were dissociated at loaded into the 10x Genomics Chromium Platform, and sequenced using Illumina HiSeq 4000. Conclusions: Our study constitute a resource of hindbrain gene expression during development. We have identified transcriptional programs involved in: rhombomere segmental identity, dorso-ventral patterning, boundary and centre progenitor cells and temporal regulation of neurogenesis.