Multiomic Analysis of Neurons with Divergent Projection Patterns Identifies Novel Regulators of Axon Pathfinding

Axon pathfinding is a key step during the formation of neural circuits but however the transcriptional mechanisms regulating its progression remain poorly understood. The binary decision of crossing or avoiding the midline that neurons make during developmente midline that mammalian retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons take at the optic chiasm has classically represented a robust model to search for novel mechanisms controlling the selection of axonal trajectories. Here, in order to identify new axon pathfinding regulators, we compared the transcriptome and chromatin accessibility profiles of mammalian retinal ganglion cells RGCs projecting ipsilateral (iRGCs) or contralaterally (cRGCs). Overall, our analyses retrieved dozens of new molecules potentially involved in axon pathfinding and uncovered the regulatory logic behind axon trajectories selection. Study of 2 different cell types in Mouse Retina, with biologic replicates, generated by RNA-seq and ATAC-seq technologies. Fernández-Nogales M, López-Cascales MT, Murcia-Belmonte V, Escalante A, Fernández-Albert J, Muñoz-Viana R, Barco A, Herrera E. Multiomic Analysis of Neurons with Divergent Projection Patterns Identifies Novel Regulators of Axon Pathfinding. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2022