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Lookup NU author(s): Maznah Alhesain, Hannah Ronan, Dr Fiona LeBeauORCiD, Dr Gavin ClowryORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Copyright © 2023 Alhesain, Ronan, LeBeau and Clowry. Introduction: The protein fasciculation and elongation zeta-1 (FEZ1) is involved in axon outgrowth but potentially interacts with various proteins with roles ranging from intracellular transport to transcription regulation. Gene association and other studies have identified FEZ1 as being directly, or indirectly, implicated in schizophrenia susceptibility. To explore potential roles in normal early human forebrain neurodevelopment, we mapped FEZ1 expression by region and cell type. Methods: All tissues were provided with maternal consent and ethical approval by the Human Developmental Biology Resource. RNAseq data were obtained from previously published sources. Thin paraffin sections from 8 to 21 post-conceptional weeks (PCW) samples were used for RNAScope in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry against FEZ1 mRNA and protein, and other marker proteins. Results: Tissue RNAseq revealed that FEZ1 is highly expressed in the human cerebral cortex between 7.5–17 PCW and single cell RNAseq at 17–18 PCW confirmed its expression in all neuroectoderm derived cells. The highest levels were found in more mature glutamatergic neurons, the lowest in GABAergic neurons and dividing progenitors. In the thalamus, single cell RNAseq similarly confirmed expression in multiple cell types. In cerebral cortex sections at 8–10 PCW, strong expression of mRNA and protein appeared confined to post-mitotic neurons, with low expression seen in progenitor zones. Protein expression was observed in some axon tracts by 16–19 PCW. However, in sub-cortical regions, FEZ1 was highly expressed in progenitor zones at early developmental stages, showing lower expression in post-mitotic cells. Discussion: FEZ1 has different expression patterns and potentially diverse functions in discrete forebrain regions during prenatal human development.
Author(s): Alhesain M, Ronan H, LeBeau FEN, Clowry GJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Frontiers in Neuroscience
Year: 2023
Volume: 17
Online publication date: 08/09/2023
Acceptance date: 15/08/2023
Date deposited: 03/10/2023
ISSN (print): 1662-4548
ISSN (electronic): 1662-453X
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1249973
DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1249973
Data Access Statement: The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found at: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/metagenomics/, E-MTAB-4840.
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