Identification and characterization of early human photoreceptor states and cell-state-specific retinoblastoma-related features.

Human cone photoreceptors differ from rods and serve as the retinoblastoma cell-of-origin, yet the developmental basis for their distinct behaviors is poorly understood. Here, we used deep full-length single-cell RNA-sequencing to distinguish post-mitotic cone and rod developmental states and identify cone-specific features that contribute to retinoblastomagenesis. The analyses revealed early post-mitotic cone- and rod-directed populations characterized by higher THRB or NRL regulon activities, an immature photoreceptor precursor population with concurrent cone and rod gene and regulon expression, and distinct early and late cone and rod maturation states distinguished by maturation-associated declines in RAX regulon activity.

Early stem cell aging in the mature brain.

Stem cell dysfunction drives many age-related disorders. Identifying mechanisms that initially compromise stem cell behavior represent early targets to promote tissue function later in life. Here, we pinpoint multiple factors that disrupt neural stem cell (NSC) behavior in the adult hippocampus.

The Presence of Neural Stem Cells and Changes in Stem Cell-Like Activity With Age in Mouse Spiral Ganglion Cells In Vivo and In Vitro.

Objectives: Spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) include potential endogenous progenitor populations for the regeneration of the peripheral auditory system. However, whether these populations are present in adult mice is largely unknown. We examined the presence and characteristics of SGN-neural stem cells (NSCs) in mice as a function of age.

Mapping molecular landmarks of human skeletal ontogeny and pluripotent stem cell-derived articular chondrocytes.

Tissue-specific gene expression defines cellular identity and function, but knowledge of early human development is limited, hampering application of cell-based therapies. Here we profiled 5 distinct cell types at a single fetal stage, as well as chondrocytes at 4 stages in vivo and 2 stages during in vitro differentiation. Network analysis delineated five tissue-specific gene modules; these modules and chromatin state analysis defined broad similarities in gene expression during cartilage specification and maturation in vitro and in vivo, including early expression and progressive silencing of muscle- and bone-specific genes.

Genome-wide analysis of facial skeletal regionalization in zebrafish.

Patterning of the facial skeleton involves the precise deployment of thousands of genes in distinct regions of the pharyngeal arches. Despite the significance for craniofacial development, how genetic programs drive this regionalization remains incompletely understood. Here we use combinatorial labeling of zebrafish cranial neural crest-derived cells (CNCCs) to define global gene expression along the dorsoventral axis of the developing arches.

The mouse cortico-striatal projectome.

Different cortical areas are organized into distinct intracortical subnetworks. The manner in which descending pathways from the entire cortex interact subcortically as a network remains unclear. We developed an open-access comprehensive mesoscale mouse cortico-striatal projectome: a detailed connectivity projection map from the entire cerebral cortex to the dorsal striatum or caudoputamen (CP) in rodents.

The benefit of attention is not diminished when distributed over two simultaneous cues.

Recent findings have suggested that transient attention can be triggered at two locations simultaneously. However, it is unclear whether doing so reduces the effect of attention at each attended location. In two experiments, we explored the consequences of dividing attention.

Neural networks of the mouse neocortex.

Numerous studies have examined the neuronal inputs and outputs of many areas within the mammalian cerebral cortex, but how these areas are organized into neural networks that communicate across the entire cortex is unclear. Over 600 labeled neuronal pathways acquired from tracer injections placed across the entire mouse neocortex enabled us to generate a cortical connectivity atlas. A total of 240 intracortical connections were manually reconstructed within a common neuroanatomic framework, forming a cortico-cortical connectivity map that facilitates comparison of connections from different cortical targets.