Abstract
Terminal selectors are transcription factors that control the morphological, physiological, and molecular features that characterize distinct cell types. Here, we show that, in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, NvPOU4 is expressed in post-mitotic cells that give rise to a diverse set of neural cell types, including cnidocytes and NvElav1-expressing neurons. Morphological analyses of NvPOU4 mutants crossed to transgenic reporter lines show that the loss of NvPOU4 does not affect the initial specification of neural cells. Transcriptomes derived from the mutants and from different neural cell populations reveal that NvPOU4 is required for the execution of the terminal differentiation program of these neural cells. These findings suggest that POU4 genes have ancient functions as terminal selectors for morphologically and functionally disparate types of neurons and they provide experimental support for the relevance of terminal selectors for understanding the evolution of cell types.
Highlights
Neurons display a remarkable morphological and molecular diversity
Using wholemount in situ hybridization, we first observed expression of NvPOU4 in few cells at early blastula (12 h post fertilization at 21C; Figure 1A). This expression occurs after the start of NvSoxB(2) expression but before expression of NvNCol3 commences
We studied the role of NvPOU4 during the development of other neural cell types identified by the NvPOU4::memGFP reporter line
Summary
Neurons display a remarkable morphological and molecular diversity. The acquisition of the features that characterize different types of neurons is the result of a series of developmental processes largely directed by transcription factors and signaling molecules (Edlund and Jessell, 1999). Stages of neural development are often characterized by the proliferation of different types of progenitor cells via symmetric and/or asymmetric divisions (Doe, 2008; Homem et al, 2015; Taverna et al, 2014) After their terminal mitosis, the differentiation of neurons typically begins with the occurrence of more general neural features, like the expression of neural cytoskeletal proteins and by the formation of neurites (Ernsberger, 2012; Stefanakis et al, 2015). Transcription factors regulating the terminal differentiation of neurons have been identified in several bilaterians (Allan and Thor, 2015; Hobert and Kratsios, 2019), it is currently unknown whether conserved terminal selectors tend to have comparable functions over long evolutionary distances.
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