Neurogenin1 expression in cell lineages of the cerebellar cortex in embryonic and postnatal mice.

The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors Ptf1a and Math1 are necessary for the specification of gamma-aminobutyric acid-ergic and glutamatergic cell lineages in the cerebellum, respectively. Recent evidence suggests cascades of bHLH factor activities drive cell type specificity in Ptf1a(+ve) and Math1(+ve) lineages. In this manuscript, we reveal cell lineages in the cerebellar cortex but not deep cerebellar nuclei express the pro-neural bHLH factor Neurogenin1 (Ngn1). Ngn1 is expressed in ventricular zone progenitors and in newly generated neurons in the caudal cerebellar primordium. In later embryonic and postnatal developmental stages, Ngn1 is expressed in progenitors and in migrating interneurons in the prospective white matter. Transgenic fate-mapping reveals Ngn1 reporter-gene expression in Purkinje cells, multiple inhibitory interneuron cell types, and in unipolar brush cells of the cortex. The data suggest Ngn1 is a component of the bHLH factor code regulating cell type specification in the cerebellar cortex. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.