Turning back the clock on neural progenitors

BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Adrian R CarrAndrea H Brand

Abstract

Drosophila neural progenitor cells, or neuroblasts, alter their transcriptional profile over time to produce different neural cell types. A recent paper by Pearson and Doe shows that older neuroblasts can be reprogrammed to behave like young neuroblasts, and to produce early neural cell types, simply by expressing the transcription factor, Hunchback. The authors show that competence to respond to Hunchback diminishes over time. Manipulating neural progenitors in this way may have important implications for therapeutic uses of neural stem cells.

References

Aug 15, 1992·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·C C Zhang, M Bienz
Jan 23, 1996·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·C L CepkoD Ezzeddine
Feb 21, 2003·Current Opinion in Neurobiology·James B Skeath, Stefan Thor
Oct 10, 2003·Nature·Bret J Pearson, Chris Q Doe
Jan 22, 2004·Nature Reviews. Genetics·Rebekah J JakelClive N Svendsen

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