A Shh/Gli-driven three-node timer motif controls temporal identity and fate of neural stem cells

Temporal patterning of the vertebrate developing neural tube

The chronologically ordered generation of distinct cell types is essential for the establishment of neuronal diversity and the formation of neuronal circuits. Recently, single-cell transcriptomic analyses of various areas of the developing vertebrate nervous system have provided evidence for the existence of a shared temporal patterning program that partitions neurons based on the timing of neurogenesis. In this review, I summarize the findings that lead to the proposal of this shared temporal program before focusing on the developing spinal cord to discuss how temporal patterning in general and this program specifically contributes to the ordered formation of neuronal circuits.

O-GlcNAcylation promotes cerebellum development and medulloblastoma oncogenesis via SHH signaling

Cerebellar development relies on a precise coordination of metabolic signaling, epigenetic signaling, and transcriptional regulation. Here, we reveal that O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) regulates cerebellar neurogenesis and medulloblastoma growth via a Sonic hedgehog (Shh)-Smo-Gli2 pathway. We identified Gli2 as a substrate of OGT, and unveiled cross-talk between O-GlcNAc and epigenetic signaling as a means to regulate Gli2 transcriptional activity. Moreover, genetic ablation or chemical inhibition of OGT significantly suppresses tumor progression and increases survival in a mouse model of Shh subgroup medulloblastoma. Taken together, the data in our study provide a line of inquiry to decipher the signaling mechanisms underlying cerebellar development, and highlights a potential target to investigate related pathologies, such as medulloblastoma.

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling plays a critical role in regulating cerebellum development by maintaining the physiological proliferation of granule neuron precursors (GNPs), and its dysregulation leads to the oncogenesis of medulloblastoma. O-GlcNAcylation (O-GlcNAc) of proteins is an emerging regulator of brain function that maintains normal development and neuronal circuitry. Here, we demonstrate that O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) in GNPs mediate the cerebellum development, and the progression of the Shh subgroup of medulloblastoma. Specifically, OGT regulates the neurogenesis of GNPs by activating the Shh signaling pathway via O-GlcNAcylation at S355 of GLI family zinc finger 2 (Gli2), which in turn promotes its deacetylation and transcriptional activity via dissociation from p300, a histone acetyltransferases. Inhibition of OGT via genetic ablation or chemical inhibition improves survival in a medulloblastoma mouse model. These data uncover a critical role for O-GlcNAc signaling in cerebellar development, and pinpoint a potential therapeutic target for Shh-associated medulloblastoma.

Robust derivation of transplantable dopamine neurons from human pluripotent stem cells by timed retinoic acid delivery

Stem cell therapies for Parkinson’s disease (PD) have entered first-in-human clinical trials using a set of technically related methods to produce mesencephalic dopamine (mDA) neurons from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). Here, we outline an approach for high-yield derivation of mDA neurons that principally differs from alternative technologies by utilizing retinoic acid (RA) signaling, instead of WNT and FGF8 signaling, to specify mesencephalic fate. Unlike most morphogen signals, where precise concentration determines cell fate, it is the duration of RA exposure that is the key-parameter for mesencephalic specification. This concentration-insensitive patterning approach provides robustness and reduces the need for protocol-adjustments between hPSC-lines. RA-specified progenitors promptly differentiate into functional mDA neurons in vitro, and successfully engraft and relieve motor deficits after transplantation in a rat PD model. Our study provides a potential alternative route for cell therapy and disease modelling that due to its robustness could be particularly expedient when use of autologous- or immunologically matched cells is considered.

Stem cell based replacement therapies could provide a treatment for Parkinson’s disease. Here the authors outline a retinoic acid-based approach for robust derivation of dopamine neurons from stem cells that restore motor deficits in parkinsonian rats.

Precision of morphogen gradients in neural tube development

Morphogen gradients encode positional information during development. How high patterning precision is achieved despite natural variation in both the morphogen gradients and in the readout process, is still largely elusive. Here, we show that the positional error of gradients in the mouse neural tube has previously been overestimated, and that the reported accuracy of the central progenitor domain boundaries in the mouse neural tube can be achieved with a single gradient, rather than requiring the simultaneous readout of opposing gradients. Consistently and independently, numerical simulations based on measured molecular noise levels likewise result in lower gradient variabilities than reported. Finally, we show that the patterning mechanism yields progenitor cell numbers with even greater precision than boundary positions, as gradient amplitude changes do not affect interior progenitor domain sizes. We conclude that single gradients can yield the observed developmental precision, which provides prospects for tissue engineering.

A shared transcriptional code orchestrates temporal patterning of the central nervous system

The molecular mechanisms that produce the full array of neuronal subtypes in the vertebrate nervous system are incompletely understood. Here, we provide evidence of a global temporal patterning program comprising sets of transcription factors that stratifies neurons based on the developmental time at which they are generated. This transcriptional code acts throughout the central nervous system, in parallel to spatial patterning, thereby increasing the diversity of neurons generated along the neuraxis. We further demonstrate that this temporal program operates in stem cell-derived neurons and is under the control of the TGFβ signaling pathway. Targeted perturbation of components of the temporal program, Nfia and Nfib, reveals their functional requirement for the generation of late-born neuronal subtypes. Together, our results provide evidence for the existence of a previously unappreciated global temporal transcriptional program of neuronal subtype identity and suggest that the integration of spatial and temporal patterning mechanisms diversifies and organizes neuronal subtypes in the vertebrate nervous system.

Interspecies chimeric conditions affect the developmental rate of human pluripotent stem cells

Human pluripotent stem cells hold significant promise for regenerative medicine. However, long differentiation protocols and immature characteristics of stem cell-derived cell types remain challenges to the development of many therapeutic applications. In contrast to the slow differentiation of human stem cells in vitro that mirrors a nine-month gestation period, mouse stem cells develop according to a much faster three-week gestation timeline. Here, we tested if co-differentiation with mouse pluripotent stem cells could accelerate the differentiation speed of human embryonic stem cells. Following a six-week RNA-sequencing time course of neural differentiation, we identified 929 human genes that were upregulated earlier and 535 genes that exhibited earlier peaked expression profiles in chimeric cell cultures than in human cell cultures alone. Genes with accelerated upregulation were significantly enriched in Gene Ontology terms associated with neurogenesis, neuron differentiation and maturation, and synapse signaling. Moreover, chimeric mixed samples correlated with in utero human embryonic samples earlier than human cells alone, and acceleration was dose-dependent on human-mouse co-culture ratios. The altered gene expression patterns and developmental rates described in this report have implications for accelerating human stem cell differentiation and the use of interspecies chimeric embryos in developing human organs for transplantation.