Discovery of a new role for the centrosomal protein AKNA in cortical neurogenesis

Researchers from the Nguyen laboratory at GIGA-Stem Cells (Laboratory of the molecular regulation of neurogenesis) have contributed to the identification of the major role played by the centrosomal protein AKNA in the control of cerebral cortical development. These results have just been published in the journal Nature.

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he development of the cerebral cortex is a complex process that requires the production of excitatory and inhibitory neurons by stem and progenitor cells. Once generated, these neurons migrate to reach their final position within the cortex. The Nguyen laboratory provided its expertise in neuronal migration to show that the protein AKNA controls the early steps of neuronal migration via rearrangement of the microtubule cytoskeleton. Analyzes performed on human brain organoids suggest that AKNA functions are conserved in Humans.

References

Camargo Ortega G, Falk S, Johansson PA, Peyre E, Broix L, Sahu SK, Hirst W, Schlichthaerle T, De Juan Romero C, Draganova K, Vinopal S, Chinnappa K, Gavranovic A, Karakaya T, Steininger T, Merl-Pham J, Feederle R, Shao W, Shi SH, Hauck SM, Jungmann R, Bradke F, Borrell V, Geerlof A, Reber S, Tiwari VK, Huttner WB, Wilsch-Brauninger M, Nguyen L and Gotz M. The centrosome protein AKNA regulates neurogenesis via microtubule organization. Nature. 2019.