Epigenetic cues modulating the generation of cell type diversity in the cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex is composed of a large variety of distinct cell-types including projection neurons, interneurons and glial cells which emerge from distinct neural stem cell (NSC) lineages. The vast majority of cortical projection neurons and certain classes of glial cells are generated by radial glial progenitor cells (RGPs) in a highly orchestrated manner. Recent studies employing single cell analysis and clonal lineage tracing suggest that NSC and RGP lineage progression are regulated in a profound deterministic manner. In this review we focus on recent advances based mainly on correlative phenotypic data emerging from functional genetic studies in mice. We establish hypotheses to test in future research and outline a conceptual framework how epigenetic cues modulate the generation of cell-type diversity during cortical development. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.