title: Gcm1, a mammalian homolog of Drosophila glial cells missing.
abstract: Differentiation of glia (astrocytes and oligodendrocytes) in Drosophila requires the gene glial cells missing (gcm), which controls lineage determination. In the absence of gcm, neuroglia progenitors exclusively differentiate into neurons, instead of into both neurons and glia. In contrast, ectopic overexpression of gcm causes uniform differentiation of the neuroglia progenitors into glia. Glial and neuronal cells in vertebrates similarly derive from neuroblast progenitors. To investigate vertebrate glial formation, we have identified, cloned, and chromosomally mapped a mammalian gcm homolog. Mouse Gcm1 demonstrates extensive similarity to Drosophila gcm but is expressed at very low levels during neuro- and gliogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacological Sciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook 11794-8651, USA.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Altshuller
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Copeland
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Frohman
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D004330:Drosophila; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008322:Mammals; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009115:Muridae; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014714:Vertebrates
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C491089:GCM1 protein, human; C101631:Gcm1 protein, mouse; D009479:Neuropeptides; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors