During neurogenesis, Notch ligands expressed by differentiating neurons inhibit the differentiation of neighbouring cells. This `lateral inhibition'maintains a pool of progenitor cells next to differentiating neurons within which neurogenesis can be initiated when the neuron migrates away from the neural epithelium. Now, David Wilkinson and colleagues report that Lunatic fringe (Lfng), a Notch modifier best known for its roles in boundary formation, promotes the lateral inhibition of neurogenesis in the zebrafish hindbrain (see p. 2523). The researchers show that Lfng is expressed by neural progenitors in neurogenic regions of the hindbrain and is downregulated in cells that have initiated differentiation. Loss-of-function studies and analysis of mosaic embryos reveal that Lfng is required cell autonomously to limit the amount of neurogenesis in the hindbrain and to maintain neural progenitors. Based on their results, the researchers suggest that Lfng acts in a feedback loop that, by promoting Notch activation, maintains the competence of progenitor cells to receive lateral inhibition from differentiating neurons.
Lunatic fringe notches up lateral inhibition
Lunatic fringe notches up lateral inhibition. Development 1 August 2009; 136 (15): e1501. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.