title: Olig2 regulates Purkinje cell generation in the early developing mouse cerebellum.
abstract: The oligodendrocyte transcription factor Olig2 plays a crucial role in the neurogenesis of both spinal cord and brain. In the cerebellum, deletion of both Olig2 and Olig1 results in impaired genesis of Purkinje cells (PCs) and Pax2(+) interneurons. Here, we perform an independent study to show that Olig2 protein is transiently expressed in the cerebellar ventricular zone (VZ) during a period when PCs are specified. Further analyses demonstrate that Olig2 is expressed in both cerebellar VZ progenitors and early-born neurons. In addition, unlike in the ganglionic eminence of the embryonic forebrain where Olig2 is mostly expressed in proliferating progenitors, Olig2(+) cells in the cerebellar VZ are in the process of leaving the cell cycle and differentiating into postmitotic neurons. Functionally, deletion of Olig2 alone results in a preferential reduction of PCs in the cerebellum, which is likely mediated by decreased neuronal generation from their cerebellar VZ progenitors. Furthermore, our long-term lineage tracing experiments show that cerebellar Olig gene-expressing progenitors produce PCs but rarely Pax2(+) interneurons in the developing cerebellum, which opposes the "temporal identity transition" model of the cerebellar VZ progenitors stating that majority of Pax2(+) interneuron progenitors are transitioned from Olig2(+) PC progenitors.
authors.affiliation: West China Developmental &Stem Cell Institute, Department of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric, Key Laboratory of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric Diseases and Birth Defects, Ministry of Education, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan UniversityChengdu, 610041, P.R. China.|School of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.affiliation: West China Developmental &Stem Cell Institute, Department of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric, Key Laboratory of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric Diseases and Birth Defects, Ministry of Education, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan UniversityChengdu, 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: West China Developmental &Stem Cell Institute, Department of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric, Key Laboratory of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric Diseases and Birth Defects, Ministry of Education, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan UniversityChengdu, 610041, P.R. China.|School of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: West China Developmental &Stem Cell Institute, Department of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric, Key Laboratory of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric Diseases and Birth Defects, Ministry of Education, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan UniversityChengdu, 610041, P.R. China.|School of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yuanxiu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: West China Developmental &Stem Cell Institute, Department of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric, Key Laboratory of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric Diseases and Birth Defects, Ministry of Education, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan UniversityChengdu, 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA.
authors.forename: Liguo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA.
authors.forename: Xuelian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: West China Developmental &Stem Cell Institute, Department of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric, Key Laboratory of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric Diseases and Birth Defects, Ministry of Education, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan UniversityChengdu, 610041, P.R. China.|School of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chenchen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: West China Developmental &Stem Cell Institute, Department of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric, Key Laboratory of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric Diseases and Birth Defects, Ministry of Education, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan UniversityChengdu, 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA.
authors.forename: Q Richard
authors.initials: QR
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: West China Developmental &Stem Cell Institute, Department of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric, Key Laboratory of Obstetric &Gynecologic and Pediatric Diseases and Birth Defects, Ministry of Education, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan UniversityChengdu, 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hedong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000196:embryology*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D051379:Mice; D000076104:Oligodendrocyte Transcription Factor 2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C512773:Olig2 protein, mouse; D000076104:Oligodendrocyte Transcription Factor 2