Neurogenesis or neuronal specification: phosphorylation strikes again!
How basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors control neurogenesis and neuronal subtype specification through transcriptional mechanisms mediated by cell signaling remains to be fully elucidated. In this issue of Neuron, Ma et al. discover that phosphorylation via GSK3 of the bHLH factor, Ngn2 (Neurog2), adds a neuronal subtype-specific program to its functional repertoire that is activated in the developing neural tube in vivo.
Lai
Helen C
HC
Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
Johnson
Jane E
JE
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism