Barcoding distinct neurons

• 成果类型: Editorial Material
• 署名作者: Kawaoka, Jane; Lomvardas, Stavros
• 署名单位: Columbia University; Columbia University
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-10576
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adq5225
• 发表日期: 2024-07-26
• 页码: 370-371
• 关键词: diversity; generation; cohesin; FAMILY; ctcf

摘要

Proper wiring of the nervous system depends on connections, or synapses, between specific neurons. This includes avoiding inappropriate interactions of a neuron with itself, a precision that is guided by cell surface proteins that act as barcodes to distinguish neuronal self from nonself (1). Although this concept is universal, the molecules that generate barcodes and the mechanisms that diversify them differ between organisms. In mammals, protocadherin proteins (Pcdh) are constituents of neuronal barcodes. There are 60 protocadherin-encoding genes within three tandem clusters in the human genome, and the mechanisms that determine which gene is expressed are not clear (2, 3). On page 406 of this issue, Kiefer et al. (4) report how genomic regulators of gene expression and a protein complex called cohesin (which is important for three-dimensional genome organization) control the expression of protocadherins. The model may be relevant to how cellular diversity is generated in an organism.