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| Subject Categories: Development | Neuroscience |
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| The EMBO Journal
(2004) 23, 2314–2324, doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7600223 Published online 13 May 2004 |
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| Asymmetric distribution of the apical plasma membrane during neurogenic divisions of mammalian neuroepithelial cells |
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| Yoichi Kosodo1, Katja Röper1, 2, Wulf Haubensak1, 3, Anne-Marie Marzesco, Denis Corbeil and Wieland B Huttner |
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Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauerstrasse 108, 01307 Dresden, Germany To whom correspondence should be addressed Wieland B Huttner, Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauerstrasse 108, 01307 Dresden, Germany. Tel.: +49 351 210 1500; Fax: +49 351 210 1600; E-mail: huttner@mpi-cbg.de 1 These authors contributed equally to this work 2 Present address: Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Institute, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QR, UK 3 Present address: California Institute of Technology, Biology 216-76, 1200 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA Received 19 December 2003; Accepted 6 April 2004; Published online 13 May 2004. |
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| Abstract |
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| At the onset of neurogenesis in the mammalian central nervous system, neuroepithelial cells switch from symmetric, proliferative to asymmetric, neurogenic divisions. In analogy to the asymmetric division of Drosophila neuroblasts, this switch of mammalian neuroepithelial cells is thought to involve a change in cleavage plane orientation from perpendicular (vertical cleavage) to parallel (horizontal cleavage) relative to the apical surface of the neuroepithelium. Here, we report, using TIS21-GFP knock-in mouse embryos to identify neurogenic neuroepithelial cells, that at the onset as well as advanced stages of neurogenesis the vast majority of neurogenic divisions, like proliferative divisions, show vertical cleavage planes. Remarkably, however, neurogenic divisions of neuroepithelial cells, but not proliferative ones, involve an asymmetric distribution to the daughter cells of the apical plasma membrane, which constitutes only a minute fraction (1–2%) of the entire neuroepithelial cell plasma membrane. Our results support a novel concept for the cell biological basis of asymmetric, neurogenic divisions of neuroepithelial cells in the mammalian central nervous system. |
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| Keywords: asymmetric division, apical plasma membrane, cleavage plane, neurogenesis, TIS21 |
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