First published online April 3, 2008
Journal of Cell Science 121, 805e (2008)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Nestin' instincts in NP cells
During brain development, neural progenitor (NP) cells extend radial processes across the thickening brain wall to form a scaffold for migrating neurons. The processes grow only during G1-S phase, and NP cells undergo mitosis before and after process extension. The intermediate-filament protein nestin is strongly expressed in NP cells, but does it have a role in coordinating morphological alteration with cell-cycle progression? On page 1204, Hideyuki Okano and colleagues analyse the expression of Nes, the gene that encodes nestin, in NP cells in embryonic mouse brains. To enable the time-resolved measurement of Nes expression at different cell-cycle stages, the authors generate a transgenic mouse line in which a Nes enhancer controls the expression of dVenus, a fluorescent protein that is targeted for degradation. The expression of nestin, the authors show, is high during G1-S phase but is downregulated during G2-M phase. Moreover, strong Nes expression correlates with the elongation of radial processes. The authors present evidence that the transcription factor Brn2 – which is phosphorylated during G2-M phase and therefore has a lower affinity for the Nes core enhancer region – modulates Nes expression. These results suggest that nestin has a role in the coordination of cell-cycle progression and radial-process formation in NP cells.
Related articles in JCS:
- Cell-cycle-specific nestin expression coordinates with morphological changes in embryonic cortical neural progenitors
- Takehiko Sunabori, Akinori Tokunaga, Takeharu Nagai, Kazunobu Sawamoto, Masaru Okabe, Atsushi Miyawaki, Yumi Matsuzaki, Takaki Miyata, and Hideyuki Okano
JCS 2008 121: 1204-1212.
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