Category Ranking

98%

Total Visits

921

Avg Visit Duration

2 minutes

Citations

20

Article Abstract

How our brain generates diverse neuron types that assemble into precise neural circuits remains unclear. Using lamina neuron types (L1-L5), we show that the primary homeodomain transcription factor (HDTF) brain-specific homeobox (Bsh) is initiated in progenitors and maintained in L4/L5 neurons to adulthood. Bsh activates secondary HDTFs Ap (L4) and Pdm3 (L5) and specifies L4/L5 neuronal fates while repressing the HDTF Zfh1 to prevent ectopic L1/L3 fates (control: L1-L5; Bsh-knockdown: L1-L3), thereby generating lamina neuronal diversity for normal visual sensitivity. Subsequently, in L4 neurons, Bsh and Ap function in a feed-forward loop to activate the synapse recognition molecule DIP-β, thereby bridging neuronal fate decision to synaptic connectivity. Expression of a Bsh:Dam, specifically in L4, reveals Bsh binding to the locus and additional candidate L4 functional identity genes. We propose that HDTFs function hierarchically to coordinate neuronal molecular identity, circuit formation, and function. Hierarchical HDTFs may represent a conserved mechanism for linking neuronal diversity to circuit assembly and function.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10942767PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.90133DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

neuronal diversity
12
synaptic connectivity
8
neuron types
8
neuronal
6
homeodomain proteins
4
proteins hierarchically
4
hierarchically neuronal
4
diversity synaptic
4
connectivity brain
4
brain generates
4

Similar Publications

Neuronal heterogeneity, characterized by a multitude of spiking neuronal patterns, is a widespread phenomenon throughout the nervous system. In particular, the brain exhibits strong variability among inhibitory neurons. Despite the huge neuronal heterogeneity across brain regions, which in principle could decrease synchronization due to differences in intrinsic neuronal properties, cortical areas coherently oscillate during various cognitive tasks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hypocretin: a promising target for the regulation of homeostasis.

Front Neurosci

August 2025

Beijing Life Science Academy, Beijing, China.

Hypocretin, also known as orexin, is a hypothalamic neuropeptide that regulates essential physiological processes including arousal, energy metabolism, feeding behavior, and emotional states. Through widespread projections and two G-protein-coupled receptors-HCRT-1R and HCRT-2R-the hypocretin system exerts diverse modulatory effects across the central nervous system. The role of hypocretin in maintaining wakefulness is well established, particularly in narcolepsy type 1 (NT1), where loss of hypocretin neurons leads to excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The paraventricular thalamic nucleus (PVT) integrates subcortical signals related to arousal, stress, addiction, and anxiety with top-down cortical influences. Increases or decreases in PVT activity exert profound, long-lasting effects on behavior related to motivation, addiction and homeostasis. Yet the sources of its subcortical excitatory and inhibitory afferents, their distribution within the PVT, and their integration with layer-specific cortical inputs remain unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain cholinergic nuclei (BFCN) and neostriatum (CPu) play key roles in learning, attention, and motor control. The loss of cholinergic neurons causes major neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. This study aimed to elucidate the molecular diversity of choline acetyltransferase immunoreactive (ChAT-ir) neurons in these brain regions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Multimode neural population coding of diverse innate fear response by mitral and tufted cells.

Cell Rep

September 2025

International Joint Laboratory for Drug Target of Critical Illnesses, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, China; Department of Nephrology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China. Electronic address:

Neurons that encode odor information are fundamental to innate fear processes, yet how mitral/tufted (M/T) cells encode innate fear remains unknown. Here, we identify three different response patterns of M/T cells in the dorsal olfactory bulb (dOB) during active avoidance elicited by non-dehydrogenated 2,4,5-trimethylthiazole (nTMT) through in vivo calcium imaging and multielectrode recordings in mice, including enhanced responses, suppressed responses, and no response. Remarkably, suppressed response M/T cells encode active avoidance, whereas suppressed and enhanced response M/T cells jointly encode passive freezing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF