Researchers investigating neuron development have discovered that different transcription factors can produce the same characteristics in different cell types. The study focused on vision-related genes in neurons of Drosophila melanogaster, a fruit fly often used for brain-related studies. The knowledge gained from this study could improve methods for differentiating stem cells into neurons that can be used to treat brain diseases or replace damaged brain tissue. The study was published in Cell.
The researchers sequenced 55,000 glia and neurons using Drop-seq, an RNA sequencing technology for analyzing gene expression in large numbers of single cells at one time. The cells were assigned to 52 different groups based on their genes. Then, the team identified transcription factors that were responsible for producing specific features in Drosophila vision systems. The results showed that two transcription factors, Apterous and Traffic-jam, were necessary for expressing some terminal differentiation features, however, those same features are known to be regulated by other genes in different cell types.
"The human brain is extremely complex and contains neurons belonging to thousands of cell types, rendering it technically very challenging to study and to understand how neurons are generated and specified," explains Katarina Kapuralin, a post-doctoral researcher at NYU Abu Dhabi and the study's other lead author. "It is therefore necessary to study simpler nervous systems where we can use new technology to understand each of the cells that compose these brains. This will help us define fundamental rules that apply to more complex nervous systems."