Expression of neural RNA-binding proteins in the postnatal CNS: implications of their roles in neuronal and glial cell development

S Sakakibara, H Okano - Journal of Neuroscience, 1997 - Soc Neuroscience
S Sakakibara, H Okano
Journal of Neuroscience, 1997Soc Neuroscience
There is an increasing interest in the role of RNA-binding proteins during neural
development. Mouse-Musashi-1 (m-Msi-1) is a mouse neural RNA-binding protein with
sequence similarity to Drosophila musashi (d-msi), which is essential for neural
development. m-Msi-1 is highly enriched in neural precursor cells that are capable of
generating both neurons and glia during embryonic CNS development. The present study
characterized m-Msi-1-expressing cells in the postnatal and adult CNS. Postnatally, m-Msi-1 …
There is an increasing interest in the role of RNA-binding proteins during neural development. Mouse-Musashi-1 (m-Msi-1) is a mouse neural RNA-binding protein with sequence similarity to Drosophila musashi (d-msi), which is essential for neural development. m-Msi-1 is highly enriched in neural precursor cells that are capable of generating both neurons and glia during embryonic CNS development. The present study characterized m-Msi-1-expressing cells in the postnatal and adult CNS. Postnatally, m-Msi-1 was expressed in proliferative neuronal precursors in the external granule cell layer of the cerebellum and in the anterior corner of the subventricular zone of the lateral ventricles. In gliogenesis, the persistent expression of m-Msi-1 was observed in cells of the astrocyte lineage ranging from proliferative glial precursors in the subventricular zone (SVZ) to differentiated astrocytes in the parenchyma. In addition, we showed that m-Msi-1 was still expressed in proliferating cells in the adult SVZ, which may contain neural precursor or stem cells. Another neural RNA-binding protein Hu (the mammalian homolog of aDrosophila neuronal RNA-binding protein Elav) was present in postmitotic neurons throughout the development of the CNS, and its pattern of expression was compared with that of m-Msi-1. These observations imply that these two RNA-binding proteins may be involved in the development of neurons and glia by regulating gene expression at the post-transcriptional level.
Soc Neuroscience