Characterization of a newly-identified myelinating oligodendroglial population expressing NDRG1 in the adult mouse central nervous system

Oligodendrocytes are the main myelinating and remyelinating cells of the central nervous system. We identified N-myc downstream regulated gene family member 1 (NDRG1) as a specific mature marker of the oligodendroglial lineage, regulated by mTORC2 kinase activity. By generating a transgenic reporter murine line, we managed to precisely characterize the effect of cuprizone-induced treatment on myelinating cells. We also created a new and adult-specific whole genome transcriptomic profile of the oligodendroglial lineage, from proliferative OPC (using P60 PDGFRa::GFP sorted cells), to pre-myelinating OL (using P60 PLP::GFP sorted cells) and then mature OL (using P60 NDRG1-eGFP sorted cells). This new reporter murine line and its associated RNA-Sequencing dataset could help us better understand the specific biology of adult myelinating oligodendrocytes, compared to previously published developmental tools and databases. mRNA profiles of FAC-sorted P60 PDGFRa::GFP, P60 PLP::GFP and P60 NDRG1-eGFP purified cell samples from mouse brains were generated by RNA-sequencing, in triplicate, using Illumina HiSeq 2500.