Transcriptional heterogeneity of ventricular zone cells in the ganglionic eminences of the mouse forebrain
Abstract
The ventricular zone (VZ) of the nervous system contains radial glia cells that were originally considered relatively homogenous in their gene expression, but a detailed characterization of transcriptional diversity in these VZ cells has not been reported. Here, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing to characterize transcriptional heterogeneity of neural progenitors within the VZ and subventricular zone (SVZ) of the ganglionic eminences (GEs), the source of all forebrain GABAergic neurons. By using a transgenic mouse line to enrich for VZ cells, we characterize significant transcriptional heterogeneity, both between GEs and within spatial subdomains of specific GEs. Additionally, we observe differential gene expression between E12.5 and E14.5 VZ cells, which could provide insights into temporal changes in cell fate. Together, our results reveal a previously unknown spatial and temporal genetic diversity of VZ cells in the ventral forebrain that will aid our understanding of initial fate decisions in the forebrain.
Data availability
All of our sequencing data has been deposited in GEO under accession code GSE167013 and GSE190593.
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Transcriptional heterogeneity of ventricular zone cells throughout the embryonic mouse forebrainNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE167013.
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Transcriptional heterogeneity of ventricular zone cells throughout the embryonic mouse forebrainNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE190593.
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Developmental diversification of cortical inhibitory interneuronsNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE103983.
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Early emergence of cortical interneuron diversity in the mouse embryoNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE109796.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Intramural Award)
- Timothy J Petros
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All mouse colonies were maintained in accordance with protocols approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) under animal study protocol ASP #20-047.
Copyright
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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