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Knowing your place

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 9, pages 662–663 (2008)Cite this article

In the spinal cord, MNs are organized into columns, which are further subdivided into motor pools that innervate individual muscles. The activities of a large family of Hox transcription factors are involved in specifying the identities of neurons in the preganglionic motor column (PGC) and the lateral motor column (LMC). However, because many classes of neurons express the same pattern of Hox proteins, additional factors must restrict the actions of different Hox proteins in different MN subtypes.

Both papers showed that Foxp1 is expressed by MNs in the LMC and PGC. Furthermore, Hox activity is required for this expression, suggesting that Foxp1 might have a role in specifying the identity of Hox-sensitive motor columns.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

  1. Dasen, J. S. et al. Hox repertoires for motor neuron diversity and connectivity gated by a single accessory factor, FoxP1. Cell 134, 304–316 (2008)

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  2. Rousso, D. L. et al. Coordinated actions of the forkhead protein Foxp1 and Hox proteins in the columnar organization of spinal motor neurons. Neuron 59, 226–240 (2008)

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  1. Katherine Whalley
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Whalley, K. Knowing your place. Nat Rev Neurosci 9, 662–663 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2484

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