By Riken Research News –
RIKEN researchers have uncovered how gradual changes in gene-expression patterns drive a cell-fate switch in neural stem cells (NSCs) in mice1.
All the major neuronal types of cells in the central nervous system are created through the division of NSCs (Fig. 1) into intermediate progenitor cells (IPCs), which in turn divide into mature neurons.
The transition from NSCs to IPCs is considered to be a discrete event since IPCs lack the same multipotency and radial shape of NSCs and no cells exhibit intermediate features between NSCs and IPCs. However, RNA-sequencing analyses of single cells has shown that gene expression changes continuously from NSCs to IPCs.
