2. Academic Validation
  3. Nf2-Yap signaling controls the expansion of DRG progenitors and glia during DRG development

Nf2-Yap signaling controls the expansion of DRG progenitors and glia during DRG development

  • Dev Biol. 2015 Feb 1;398(1):97-109. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.11.017.
Yelda Serinagaoglu 1,  Joshua Paré 1,  Marco Giovannini 2,  Xinwei Cao 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
  • 2 Department of Head and Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90057, USA.
  • 3 Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA. Electronic address: Xinwei.Cao@stjude.org.
PMID: 25433207 DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.11.017
Abstract

Molecular mechanisms governing the maintenance and proliferation of dorsal root ganglia (DRG) progenitors are largely unknown. Here we reveal that the Hippo pathway regulates the expansion of DRG progenitors and glia during mammalian DRG development. The key effectors of this pathway, transcriptional coactivators YAP and Taz, are expressed in DRG progenitors and glia during DRG development but are at least partially inhibited from activating transcription. Aberrant YAP activation leads to overexpansion of DRG progenitor and glial populations. We further show that the Neurofibromatosis 2 (Nf2) tumor suppressor inhibits YAP during DRG development. Loss of Nf2 leads to similar phenotypes as does YAP hyperactivation, and deleting YAP suppresses these phenotypes. Our study demonstrates that Nf2-Yap signaling plays important roles in controlling the expansion of DRG progenitors and glia during DRG development.

Keywords

Neural crest; Satellite glia; Sensory neurons; The peripheral nervous system.

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