
==== Front
bioRxiv
BIORXIV
bioRxiv
2692-8205
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

10.1101/2024.08.25.609458
preprint
1
Article
A single-cell atlas of spatial and temporal gene expression in the mouse cranial neural plate
Brooks Eric R. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3159-8626

Moorman Andrew R.
Bhattacharya Bhaswati
Prudhomme Ian
Land Max
Alcorn Heather L.
Sharma Roshan
Pe'er Dana
Zallen Jennifer A.
25 8 2024
2024.08.25.609458https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.
http://biorxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2024.08.25.609458
nihpp-2024.08.25.609458.pdf
The formation of the mammalian brain requires regionalization and morphogenesis of the cranial neural plate, which transforms from an epithelial sheet into a closed tube that provides the structural foundation for neural patterning and circuit formation. Sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling is important for cranial neural plate patterning and closure, but the transcriptional changes that give rise to the spatially regulated cell fates and behaviors that build the cranial neural tube have not been systematically analyzed. Here we used single-cell RNA sequencing to generate an atlas of gene expression at six consecutive stages of cranial neural tube closure in the mouse embryo. Ordering transcriptional profiles relative to the major axes of gene expression predicted spatially regulated expression of 870 genes along the anterior-posterior and mediolateral axes of the cranial neural plate and reproduced known expression patterns with over 85% accuracy. Single-cell RNA sequencing of embryos with activated SHH signaling revealed distinct SHH-regulated transcriptional programs in the developing forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain, suggesting a complex interplay between anterior-posterior and mediolateral patterning systems. These results define a spatiotemporally resolved map of gene expression during cranial neural tube closure and provide a resource for investigating the transcriptional events that drive early mammalian brain development.
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pmc
