Long interspersed nuclear elements safeguard neural progenitors from precocious differentiation.

Long interspersed nuclear element-1 (L1 or LINE-1) is a highly abundant mobile genetic element in both humans and mice, comprising almost 20% of each genome. L1s are silenced by several mechanisms, as their uncontrolled expression has the potential to induce genomic instability. However, L1s are paradoxically expressed at high levels in differentiating neural progenitor cells. Using in vitro and in vivo techniques to modulate L1 expression, we report that L1s play a critical role in both human and mouse brain development by regulating the rate of neural differentiation in a reverse-transcription-independent manner.

Morphological diversification and functional maturation of human astrocytes in glia-enriched cortical organoid transplanted in mouse brain.

Astrocytes, the most abundant glial cell type in the brain, are underrepresented in traditional cortical organoid models due to the delayed onset of cortical gliogenesis. Here we introduce a new glia-enriched cortical organoid model that exhibits accelerated astrogliogenesis. We demonstrated that induction of a gliogenic switch in a subset of progenitors enabled the rapid derivation of astroglial cells, which account for 25-31% of the cell population within 8-10 weeks of differentiation. Intracerebral transplantation of these organoids reliably generated a diverse repertoire of cortical neurons and anatomical subclasses of human astrocytes. Spatial transcriptome profiling identified layer-specific expression patterns among distinct subclasses of astrocytes within organoid transplants. Using an in vivo acute neuroinflammation model, we identified a subpopulation of astrocytes that rapidly activates pro-inflammatory pathways upon cytokine stimulation. Additionally, we demonstrated that CD38 signaling has a crucial role in mediating metabolic and mitochondrial stress in reactive astrocytes. This model provides a robust platform for investigating human astrocyte function.

Neuronal activity-related transcription is blunted in immature compared to mature dentate granule cells.

Immature dentate granule cells (DGCs) generated in the hippocampus during adulthood are believed to play a unique role in dentate gyrus (DG) function. Although immature DGCs have hyperexcitable membrane properties in vitro, the consequences of this hyperexcitability in vivo remain unclear. In particular, the relationship between experiences that activate the DG, such as exploration of a novel environment (NE), and downstream molecular processes that modify DG circuitry in response to cellular activation is unknown in this cell population. We first performed quantification of immediate early gene (IEG) proteins in immature (5-week-old) and mature (13-week-old) DGCs from mice exposed to a NE. Paradoxically, we observed lower IEG protein expression in hyperexcitable immature DGCs. We then isolated nuclei from active and inactive immature DGCs and performed single-nuclei RNA-Sequencing. Compared to mature nuclei collected from the same animal, immature DGC nuclei showed less activity-induced transcriptional change, even though they were classified as active based on expression of ARC protein. These results demonstrate that the coupling of spatial exploration, cellular activation, and transcriptional change differs between immature and mature DGCs, with blunted activity-induced changes in immature cells.

Increased Neural Progenitor Proliferation in a hiPSC Model of Autism Induces Replication Stress-Associated Genome Instability.

The association between macrocephaly and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) suggests that the mechanisms underlying excessive neural growth could contribute to ASD pathogenesis. Consistently, neural progenitor cells (NPCs) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) of ASD individuals with early developmental brain enlargement are inherently more proliferative than control NPCs. Here, we show that hiPSC-derived NPCs from ASD individuals with macrocephaly display an altered DNA replication program and increased DNA damage. When compared with the control NPCs, high-throughput genome-wide translocation sequencing (HTGTS) demonstrates that ASD-derived NPCs harbored elevated DNA double-strand breaks in replication stress-susceptible genes, some of which are associated with ASD pathogenesis. Our results provide a mechanism linking hyperproliferation of NPCs with the pathogenesis of ASD by disrupting long neural genes involved in cell-cell adhesion and migration.

A novel environment-evoked transcriptional signature predicts reactivity in single dentate granule neurons.

Activity-induced remodeling of neuronal circuits is critical for memory formation. This process relies in part on transcription, but neither the rate of activity nor baseline transcription is equal across neuronal cell types. In this study, we isolated mouse hippocampal populations with different activity levels and used single nucleus RNA-seq to compare their transcriptional responses to activation. One hour after novel environment exposure, sparsely active dentate granule (DG) neurons had a much stronger transcriptional response compared to more highly active CA1 pyramidal cells and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) interneurons. Activity continued to impact transcription in DG neurons up to 5 h, with increased heterogeneity. By re-exposing the mice to the same environment, we identified a unique transcriptional signature that selects DG neurons for reactivation upon re-exposure to the same environment. These results link transcriptional heterogeneity to functional heterogeneity and identify a transcriptional correlate of memory encoding in individual DG neurons.

Adult-born hippocampal dentate granule cells undergoing maturation modulate learning and memory in the brain.

Adult-born dentate granule cells (DGCs) contribute to learning and memory, yet it remains unknown when adult-born DGCs become involved in the cognitive processes. During neurogenesis, immature DGCs display distinctive physiological characteristics while undergoing morphological maturation before final integration into the neural circuits. The survival and activity of the adult-born DGCs can be influenced by the experience of the animal during a critical period when newborn DGCs are still immature. To assess the temporal importance of adult neurogenesis, we developed a transgenic mouse model that allowed us to transiently reduce the numbers of adult-born DGCs in a temporally regulatable manner. We found that mice with a reduced population of adult-born DGCs at the immature stage were deficient in forming robust, long-term spatial memory and displayed impaired performance in extinction tasks. These results suggest that immature DGCs that undergo maturation make important contributions to learning and memory.