Équipe : Control of neuronal identity in the zebrafish
Responsable : Patrick Blader
Laboratoire : UMR 5547 Centre de Biologie du Développement - Centre de Biologie Intégrative (Toulouse)
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Descriptif :
In the zebrafish olfactory system, dispersed precursors of olfactory neurons differentiate while concomitantly assembling into a compact placode on either side of the brain. We have already shown that the bHLH proneural Neurogenin1 (Neurog1) plays a key role in olfactory neuron differentiation (Madelaine et al., 2011). How morphogenesis of the olfactory placode is coordinated with neurogenesis, however, remains unclear. In the lab, we aim to decipher how these processes are coupled to build a functional sensory organ using both live imaging and molecular/transcriptomic analysis. We have quantitatively described the early steps of olfactory placode morphogenesis and can show that these parameters are disrupted in neurog1 mutants. This process seems also affected in some cell-migration molecules/ guidance cues mutants, which in this system could act as Neurog1 direct target genes. We plan to unravel Neurog1 direct target genes involved in this process, by identifying E-boxes’s cluster within regulatory elements that could control their expression in a Neurog1-dependant manner. We are using mathematical modeling and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing tools to better understand olfactory placode formation. Altogether, our results could reveal a parsimonious mechanism for coordinating neurogenesis and morphogenesis in which proneural genes control both processes via distinct sets of targets.
In the zebrafish olfactory system, dispersed precursors of olfactory neurons differentiate while concomitantly assembling into a compact placode on either side of the brain. We have already shown that the bHLH proneural Neurogenin1 (Neurog1) plays a key role in olfactory neuron differentiation (Madelaine et al., 2011). How morphogenesis of the olfactory placode is coordinated with neurogenesis, however, remains unclear. In the lab, we aim to decipher how these processes are coupled to build a functional sensory organ using both live imaging and molecular/transcriptomic analysis. We have quantitatively described the early steps of olfactory placode morphogenesis and can show that these parameters are disrupted in neurog1 mutants. This process seems also affected in some cell-migration molecules/ guidance cues mutants, which in this system could act as Neurog1 direct target genes. We plan to unravel Neurog1 direct target genes involved in this process, by identifying E-boxes’s cluster within regulatory elements that could control their expression in a Neurog1-dependant manner. We are using mathematical modeling and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing tools to better understand olfactory placode formation. Altogether, our results could reveal a parsimonious mechanism for coordinating neurogenesis and morphogenesis in which proneural genes control both processes via distinct sets of targets.
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