A transcription factor network specifying inhibitory versus excitatory neurons in the dorsal spinal cord

• Published in: Development (Cambridge) Vol. 141; no. 14; pp. 2803 - 2812
• Main Authors: Borromeo, Mark D., Meredith, David M., Castro, Diogo S., Chang, Joshua C., Tung, Kuang-Chi, Guillemot, Francois, Johnson, Jane E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Company of Biologists 01.07.2014
• Subjects: Animals; Base Sequence; Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors - metabolism; Binding Sites; Body Patterning - genetics; Chickens; Chromatin - metabolism; E-Box Elements - genetics; GABAergic Neurons - metabolism; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Gene Regulatory Networks; Genome - genetics; Glutamates - metabolism; Mice; Molecular Sequence Data; Neural Inhibition; Neural Tube - cytology; Neural Tube - embryology; Neural Tube - metabolism; Neurogenesis - genetics; Neurons - cytology; Neurons - metabolism; Nucleotide Motifs - genetics; Protein Binding; Spinal Cord - cytology; Spinal Cord - embryology; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Neuronal subtype specification; Dorsal neural tube; Mouse; bHLH transcription factor; ChIP-Seq; Chick; Ascl1; Ptf1a

The proper balance of excitatory and inhibitory neurons is crucial for normal processing of somatosensory information in the dorsal spinal cord. Two neural basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors (TFs), Ascl1 and Ptf1a, have contrasting functions in specifying these neurons. To understand how A...