Genetic factors driving the functional specification of spinal motor neurons

Lee, Tsung-I

dc.contributor.advisor	Marquardt, Till Prof. Dr.	de
dc.contributor.author	Lee, Tsung-I	de
dc.date.accessioned	2013-01-14T15:06:27Z	de
dc.date.available	2013-01-30T23:51:02Z	de
dc.date.issued	2012-11-06	de
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-1735-0000-000D-EF80-E	de
dc.identifier.uri	http://dx.doi.org/10.53846/goediss-1443
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	de
dc.language.iso	eng	de
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/	de
dc.title	Genetic factors driving the functional specification of spinal motor neurons	de
dc.type	doctoralThesis	de
dc.contributor.referee	Marquardt, Till Prof. Dr.	de
dc.date.examination	2012-07-09	de
dc.subject.dnb	500 Naturwissenschaften	de
dc.subject.gok	WK 000	de
dc.description.abstracteng	Spinal motor neurons which innervate different types of muscle fibers play a pivotal role in controlling body postures and locomotion. Spinal motor neurons can be broadly classified into alpha- and gamma-motor neuron subtypes. Alpha-motor neurons can be further subdivided into fast and slow functional subtypes. It is known that several spatially and temporally orchestrated transcriptional cascades are instrumental in determining and specifying various neuronal subtypes in the neural tube during neurogenesis. However, the factors responsible for determining the specification of functional spinal motor neuron subtypes (alpha versus gamma; slow versus fast) are still unknown. In this study, I performed transcriptome analysis in E18.5 mice to identify the gene expression profiles of functionally distinct motor pools to identify determinants of motor neuron subtype. Through this screen, I identified the orphan nuclear receptor Err2 as a selective marker for gamma-motor neurons. The expression of Err2 paralleled that of the closely related Err3, a previously identified gamma-motor neuron marker. Through novel transposon-mediated gene manipulation in the embryonic chick spinal cord, I found that both Err2 and Err3 are sufficient to promote gamma-motor neuron identity, based on morphological, molecular and initial physiological criteria. Fusion of heterologous transcriptional activation or repression domains further suggested that Err2 and Err3 act as transcriptional activators. My thesis project thereby uncovered first insights into the functional specification of motor neurons, and provided evidence that Err2 and Err3 act as genetically redundant transcription activators that promote the acquisition of gamma-motor neuron identity in subsets of motor neurons.	de
dc.contributor.coReferee	Hülsmann, Swen Prof. Dr.	de
dc.contributor.thirdReferee	Nave, Klaus-Armin Prof. Dr.	de
dc.subject.topic	Biology (incl. Psychology)	de
dc.subject.ger	none	de
dc.subject.eng	gamma motor neuron	de
dc.subject.eng	orphan nuclear receptor	de
dc.subject.eng	Err2	de
dc.subject.bk	42.23	de
dc.identifier.urn	urn:nbn:de:gbv:7-webdoc-3777-6	de
dc.identifier.purl	webdoc-3777	de
dc.affiliation.institute	Biologische Fakultät	de
dc.identifier.ppn	731302990	de

Files in this item

Name:lee_tsung.pdf

Size:15.49Mb

Format:PDF

View/Open

Name:: lee_tsung.pdf
Size:: 15.49Mb
Format:: PDF

View/Open

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Fakultät für Biologie und Psychologie (inkl. GAUSS) [1645]

Show simple item record