Transcriptional hallmarks of heterogeneous neural stem cell niches of the subventricular zone.

Throughout postnatal life in mammals, neural stem cells (NSCs) are located in the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricles. The greatest diversity of neuronal and glial lineages they generate occurs during early postnatal life in a region-specific manner. In order to evaluate potential heterogeneity in the NSC pool, we microdissected the dorsal and lateral SVZ at different postnatal ages and isolated NSCs and their immediate progeny based on their expression of Hes5-EGFP/Prominin1 and Ascl1-EGFP, respectively. Whole genome comparative transcriptome analysis revealed transcriptional regulators as major hallmarks that sustain postnatal SVZ regionalization. Manipulation of single genes encoding for locally enriched transcription factors influenced NSC specification indicating that the fate of regionalized postnatal SVZ NSCs can be readily modified . These findings reveal functional heterogeneity of NSCs in the postnatal SVZ and provide targets to recruit region-specific lineages in regenerative contexts.

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Azim K, Hurtado-Chong A, Fischer B, Kumar N, Zweifel S, Taylor V, Raineteau O