Phenotypic Convergence: Distinct Transcription Factors Regulate Common Terminal Features.
Cell
; 174(3): 622-635.e13, 2018 07 26.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29909983
ABSTRACT
Transcription factors regulate the molecular, morphological, and physiological characteristics of neurons and generate their impressive cell-type diversity. To gain insight into the general principles that govern how transcription factors regulate cell-type diversity, we used large-scale single-cell RNA sequencing to characterize the extensive cellular diversity in the Drosophila optic lobes. We sequenced 55,000 single cells and assigned them to 52 clusters. We validated and annotated many clusters using RNA sequencing of FACS-sorted single-cell types and cluster-specific genes. To identify transcription factors responsible for inducing specific terminal differentiation features, we generated a "random forest" model, and we showed that the transcription factors Apterous and Traffic-jam are required in many but not all cholinergic and glutamatergic neurons, respectively. In fact, the same terminal characters often can be regulated by different transcription factors in different cell types, arguing for extensive phenotypic convergence. Our data provide a deep understanding of the developmental and functional specification of a complex brain structure.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
/
Drosophila melanogaster
/
Neurogenesis
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Cell
Year:
2018
Type:
Article