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Genes and Cell Type Specification in Cerebellar Development

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Handbook of the Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders

Abstract

One of the key goals of mammalian neural development is to make specific cell types that originate from multipotent progenitor cells. We are only beginning to understand this process of cell specification; however, evidence suggests that it occurs in a stepwise fashion and it is likely that each step requires the coordinated expression of a unique set of genes working in concert with environmental signals. The cerebellum is an excellent model system for understanding cell fate questions because it contains only a handful of defined cell types that are each located in a specific lamina with distinct molecular signatures and are therefore easily identified. These features have made the cerebellum an ideal model to help us understand the gene networks that give rise to specific cell types during development. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in parsing the molecular pathways necessary to produce specific cerebellar cell types. We will then discuss two open-source cerebellar transcriptomic databases, GRiTS (Gene Regulation in Time and Space) project (www.CBGRiTS.org) and RIKEN FANTOM5 (fantom.gsc.riken.jp/5/), which have amassed whole genome readouts of cerebellar gene expression on a daily basis during embryogenesis and every 3 days postnatally. Finally, we will briefly review our efforts to mine this transcriptomic information using bioinformatic tools to identify new genes that may confer cell type specificity during cerebellar development.

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Author notes

  1. Joanna Yeung and Matt Larouche contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Genetics, Child and Family Research Institute, Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Joanna Yeung, Miguel Ramirez, Rémi Robert & Dan Goldowitz

  2. Neurology, Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, BC, Canada

    Matt Larouche

  3. Genome Sciences and Technology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Miguel Ramirez

Authors
  1. Joanna Yeung
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  2. Matt Larouche
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  3. Miguel Ramirez
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  4. Rémi Robert
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  5. Dan Goldowitz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dan Goldowitz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bruxelles, Belgium

    Mario Manto

  2. Scripps Research Institute Dept. Neuropharmacology, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Donna Gruol

  3. Dept. Neurology, Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Jeremy Schmahmann

  4. Gunma University Dept. Integrative Physiology, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

    Noriyuki Koibuchi

  5. Dept Pathology & Immunology & Neuro, Baylor College of Medicine Dept Pathology & Immunology & Neuro, Houston, TX, USA

    Roy Sillitoe

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Pathology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Roy V. Sillitoe

  2. Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Roy V. Sillitoe

  3. Program in Developmental Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Roy V. Sillitoe

  4. Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute of Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX, USA

    Roy V. Sillitoe

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Yeung, J., Larouche, M., Ramirez, M., Robert, R., Goldowitz, D. (2019). Genes and Cell Type Specification in Cerebellar Development. In: Manto, M., Gruol, D., Schmahmann, J., Koibuchi, N., Sillitoe, R. (eds) Handbook of the Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97911-3_15-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97911-3_15-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97911-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97911-3

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