Developmental Determinants of Neuronal Identity in the Drosophila Embryo

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Date

2022-05-10

Authors

Seroka, Austin

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Publisher

University of Oregon

Abstract

The complex function of the nervous system is dependent on precise connectionsbetween hundreds of thousands of diverse neurons. During development, a small pool of neural progenitors is tasked with quickly generating this diverse set of molecularly and morphologically distinct neuronal subtypes. These neurons are then required to navigate a complex environment to locate the appropriate synaptic partners, and establish the circuitry required for behavior. For this reason, identifying the mechanisms used by neural progenitors to generate the correct neural subtypes is critical to understanding circuit formation, and behavior itself. During Drosophila development, each neural progenitor cell, or neuroblast (NB), generates a characteristic set of diverse neuronal progeny over time. This is accomplished through the process of temporal patterning, in which each NB sequentially expresses a cascade of temporal transcription factors (tTFs), giving rise to molecularly distinct neuronal progeny in each expression window. These tTFs are only transiently expressed; little is known about their downstream effectors and how they specify and maintain the unique molecular and morphological properties of each neuronal subtype throughout larval life. Our central hypothesis, is that each tTF induces or represses a combinatorial set of downstream identity transcription factors (iTFs), which in turn drive the expression of mature neuronal genes such as those encoding neurotransmitter machinery, ion channels, cell-surface protein expression and higher-order morphological features. Investigating the downstream targets of tTFs in a distinct embryonic lineage through single-cell sequencing will resolve this gap in understanding. This dissertation includes previously published, co-authored material.

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Keywords

axon guidance, drosophila embryo, motor neurons, neuronal morphology, synaptic connectivity, temporal patterning

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