Concurrent temporal patterning of neural stem cells in the fly visual system

Priscilla Valentino, Ishrat M. Islam, Urfa Arain and Ted Erclik ()
Additional contact information
Priscilla Valentino: University of Toronto Mississauga
Ishrat M. Islam: University of Toronto Mississauga
Urfa Arain: University of Toronto Mississauga
Ted Erclik: University of Toronto Mississauga

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: Abstract In the Drosophila optic lobe, medulla neuroblasts (NBs) are patterned by temporal and spatial inputs, which contribute to the generation of the medulla’s ~150 neuron types. Here, we describe a third patterning mechanism that further diversifies neuronal fates in the medulla. The neuroepithelium from which NBs are continuously produced is patterned by opposing temporal gradients of the Imp and Syp RNA-binding proteins and their downstream transcription factors. Imp/Syp patterning results in the generation of seven cell types in successive developmental windows from NBs at the Vsx1–Hth spatial–temporal address. Medulla NBs are thus patterned by two concurrent temporal mechanisms: (1) the Imp/Syp state of the neuroepithelium when they are generated; and (2) the transcription factor cascade that progresses within them as they age. We further find that the birth order of medulla neurons correlates with their position along the anterior-posterior axis of the adult cortex, resulting in unanticipated regionalization of the retinotopic map.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63416-z Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-63416-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63416-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().