Neurogenin2 (Ngn2) is a transcription factor expressed in the developing cortex and promotes neuronal differentiation of glutamatergic pyramidal neurons. The proper formation and distribution of glutamatergic pyramidal neurons during development of the cerebral cortex is critical for normal cognitive function. The mechanisms defining the development of glutamatergic pyramidal neurons are poorly understood. Our work has begun to illuminate one potential mechanism underlying the phenotypic traits of glutamatergic pyramidal neurons. We found that phosphorylation of a single tyrosine residue within Ngn2 is responsible for the cell migration and cell morphology properties of glutamatergic pyramidal neurons. Interestingly, the phosphorylation of this tyrosine does not regulate neuronal differentiation mediated by Ngn2. We hypothesize that Ngn2 differentially regulates the expression of genes involved in neuronal differentiation versus genes involved in cell migration and cell morphology. This proposal will explore the ability of Ngn2 to differentially transcribe target genes and identify protein-protein interactions between Ngn2 and key transcriptional regulators. ? ?
| Hand, Randal; Polleux, Franck (2011) Neurogenin2 regulates the initial axon guidance of cortical pyramidal neurons projecting medially to the corpus callosum. Neural Dev 6:30 |
