Co-lead by @nataliabaumann.bsky.social and Ilaria Morassut with Sabine Fièvre as senior author.

Thanks; we only have access to the VZ progenitors in the transcriptomics analysis, and many cerebellar neurons are born from abventricular progenitors. In VZ progen, Fam210b is only rostral.

This is a result of a long & intense effort by many folks in the lab, spearheaded throughout the years by @nataliabaumann.bsky.social, with strong contributions by R.Wagener and A.Javed. Great collab. with the @harschnitz.bsky.social lab too, as well as with other partners. Hope you enjoy it!

Hence, cellular clocks tick at different paces across brain regions due to distinct metabolic properties of progenitors. This work thus adds to research on metabolism setting cellular timing across species, by showing these differences regulate brain shape within species too!

Using in vivo gain- and loss- of function of FAM210B in the hindbrain and neocortex, respectively, we find that FAM210B elongates mitochondria and increases
lactate production, which promotes progenitor self-replicative divisions and, ultimately, a larger clonal size of their progeny.

Using scRNA sequencing of all ventricular progenitors, we found genes with spatially and temporally restricted expression (baumannn.shinyapps.io/Ventriculome). Amongst these, the mitochondrial protein Fam210b was expressed where and when cell-cycle is the longest.

When we examined regional cell-cycling behavior of progenitors, we found less consumptive divisions in cortical progenitors compared to hindbrain ones, resulting in a sustained availability of the progenitor pool in the cortex. Mitochondrial morphology was different across regions too!

Using this atlas, we find that while both forebrain and hindbrain regions are born early, only in the forebrain – and particularly in the cortex – is there a prolonged time window of neurogenesis. Some regions thus show transient neurogenesis, while in others it is sustained.

As a first step to address this question, we built a spatio-temporal atlas of neuronal birth across brain structures, available at neurobirth.org (use your PC to navigate), building on Altman and Bayer’s seminal work on brain development (www.neurondevelopment.org).