RNA-seq of mouse astrocytes in monoculture and co-cultured with rat neurons (both inactive and active).

Neurons induce a dramatic transformation in developing astrocytes, causing them to develop a complex stellate morphology resembling their appearance in vivo. However, the transcriptional changes that accompany this transformation are not known, nor are the signalling mechanisms responsible. Similarly, whether synaptic activity controls astrocytic gene expression and whether this leads to altered astrocytic function is unclear. This experiment seeks to investigate this non-cell-autonomously regulated gene expression by co-culturing astrocytes and neurons derived from closely related species (mouse and rat), and separating RNA-seq reads derived from each cell type in silico, thus shedding light on the signalling mechanisms underlying neuron-to-astrocyte communication and the functional consequences for astrocytes.