title: The roles and regulation of Polycomb complexes in neural development.
abstract: In the developing mammalian nervous system, common progenitors integrate both cell extrinsic and intrinsic regulatory programs to produce distinct neuronal and glial cell types as development proceeds. This spatiotemporal restriction of neural progenitor differentiation is enforced, in part, by the dynamic reorganization of chromatin into repressive domains by Polycomb repressive complexes, effectively limiting the expression of fate-determining genes. Here, we review the distinct roles that Polycomb repressive complexes play during neurogenesis and gliogenesis, while also highlighting recent work describing the molecular mechanisms that govern their dynamic activity in neural development. Further investigation of the way in which Polycomb complexes are regulated in neural development will enable more precise manipulation of neural progenitor differentiation facilitating the efficient generation of specific neuronal and glial cell types for many biological applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, 320 McDonnell Sciences Building, Campus Box 8103, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corley
authors.forename: Kristen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Kroll
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D009420:Nervous System / Q000254:growth & development*; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D055495:Neurogenesis; D063146:Polycomb-Group Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D063146:Polycomb-Group Proteins