[en] Motility is a universal property of newly generated neurons. How cell migration is coordinately regulated with other aspects of neuron production is not well understood. Here we show that the proneural protein neurogenin 2 (Neurog2), which controls neurogenesis in the embryonic cerebral cortex, directly induces the expression of the small GTP-binding protein Rnd2 (ref. 3) in newly generated mouse cortical neurons before they initiate migration. Rnd2 silencing leads to a defect in radial migration of cortical neurons similar to that observed when the Neurog2 gene is deleted. Remarkably, restoring Rnd2 expression in Neurog2-mutant neurons is sufficient to rescue their ability to migrate. Our results identify Rnd2 as a novel essential regulator of neuronal migration in the cerebral cortex and demonstrate that Rnd2 is a major effector of Neurog2 function in the promotion of migration. Thus, a proneural protein controls the complex cellular behaviour of cell migration through a remarkably direct pathway involving the transcriptional activation of a small GTP-binding protein.
Disciplines :
Biochemistry, biophysics & molecular biology
Author, co-author :
Heng, Julian Ik-Tsen; National Institute for Medical Research > Molecular Neurobiology
Nguyen, Laurent ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences cliniques > Neurologie
Castro, Diogo S; National Institute for Medical Research > Molecular Neurobiology
Zimmer, Celine; National Institute for Medical Research > Molecular Neurobiology
Wildner, Hendrik; National Institute for Medical Research > Molecular Neurobiology
Armant, Olivier; National Institute for Medical Research > Molecular Neurobiology
Skowronska-Krawczyk, Dorota
Bedogni, Francesco
Matter, Jean-Marc
Hevner, Robert
Guillemot, Francois; National Institute for Medical Research > Molecular Neurobiology
Language :
English
Title :
Neurogenin 2 controls cortical neuron migration through regulation of Rnd2.
Publication date :
2008
Journal title :
Nature
ISSN :
0028-0836
eISSN :
1476-4687
Publisher :
Nature Publishing Group, Basingstoke, United Kingdom
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