Profiling astrocyte spatial heterogeneity and region-specific transcription factor networks

The goals of this study are to profile the molecular signatures of astrocytes from four brain regions (olfactory bulb, hippocampus, cortex, and brainstem) and determine if differential transcription factor enrichment may play a role in shaping astrocyte spatial diversity. We performed RNA-seq on astrocytes from the olfactory bulb, hippocampus, cortex, and brainstem, and determined region-specific molecular signatures. Using transcription factor motif discovery analysis on each region-specific gene signature we uncovered universal and region-specific transcription factor expression profiles. Aldh1l1-GFP positive astrocytes were collected in triplicate from the olfactory bulb, hippocampus, and brainstem and duplicate from the cortex of 16-week old mice and profiled using RNA-seq