Abstract
Regulating neuronal development can be complicated. But genetic control of neurotransmitter expression — as exemplified by differentiation of dopamine-secreting neurons — turns out to be relatively straightforward. Neurons that produce dopamine as a neurotransmitter control a broad variety of brain functions, including motor control, cognition, motivation and pleasure. How precursor cells converge onto the dopaminergic fate across the vast diversity of developmental lineages involved in those functions has been unclear. Nuria Flames and Oliver Hobert now report that the regulatory protein AST-1 is necessary and sufficient to drive and maintain the terminal differentiation of dopaminergic neurons in the nematode C. elegans. As the protein and its terminal differentiation function are strikingly conserved in mice, the results have direct implications for stem-cell replacement strategies in dopamine-related disorders such as Parkinson's disease.
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