Omics · study · 2026
Transcriptome of Fetal Cortex of Tree Shrew Underlying the Emergence and Evolution of Outer Subventricular Zone [TSlayer_RNAseq]
Listed in NCBI GEO
A defining feature of primates is the expansion and increased complexity of the cerebral cortex, processes that are largely associated with evolutionary adaptations of neural progenitor-enriched outer subventricular zone (OSVZ).
Description
Yet, the genetic mechanisms underlying the emergence of OSVZ remain unknown. The tree shrew is an extremely well-suited species to investigate this question.
In addition to being a closer outgroup of primates than rodents are, its brain exhibits an intermediate phenotype; while being lissencephalic (smooth) similar to the mouse brain, it nonetheless possesses the OSVZ. Here, we applied laser micro-dissection technology to conduct comprehensive gene expression analysis in different cortical layers of tree shrew brain across three key developmental stages. We discovered distinctive gene expression profiles in different cortical layers, including those enriched in synapse-related-pathways in CP, VZ and ISVZ, while OSVZ exhibited unique enrichment in neurogenesis processes related genes.
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Utilizing a comparative transcriptome approach, we show that cell-cycle related genes are already involved in tree shrew OSVZ. On the other hand, extra-cellular-matrix (ECM) associated pathways appear unique to primate OSVZ. These novel results begin to reveal the shared genetic toolkit underlying the evolution of OSVZ.
Furthermore, we discovered distinctive expression patterns of several zinc finger proteins (ZNFs) that are shared between tree shrew and primate OSVZ, indicating their significance in the evolution of OSVZ. As a proof-of-concept, overexpression ZNF664 significantly increased the proliferation of progenitors in the mouse sub-ventricular zone. Together, these results reveal the shared molecular basis of OSVZ between primates and tree shrew, providing an innovative insight into the brain complexification in primates.
Links
Get the data
- GEO FTP directory ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/series/GSE318nnn/GSE318518 ↗
download · from NCBI GEO
Where it is published
- GEO accession page ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE318518 ↗
landing page · from NCBI GEO
Documentation and papers
- PRJNA1419161 ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA1419161 ↗
project · from NCBI GEO
Topics
- Stated by source
- Expression profiling by high throughput sequencing
- From keywords
- Life Sciences
- Inferred from text
- Evolutionary biology 73%
Provenance · 1 source records, 7 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| NCBI GEO | GSE318518 | 14 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| access_level | source · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].anzsrc:group:3104 | enrichment · NCBI GEO | taxonomy-embedding@1.1.0 | title+keywords+description (73%) |
| concepts[field].local:field:life-sciences | mapping · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[method].geo_series_type:expression-profiling-by-high-throughput-sequencing | source · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | /gdstype |
| description | source · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | /summary |
| publication_date | source · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | |
| title | source · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | /title |