PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Suranjana Pal
AU  - Deepanjali Dwivedi
AU  - Tuli Pramanik
AU  - Geeta Godbole
AU  - Takuji Iwasato
AU  - Denis Jabaudon
AU  - Upinder S. Bhalla
AU  - Shubha Tole
TI  - An early cortical progenitor-specific mechanism regulates thalamocortical innervation
AID  - 10.1101/2020.09.25.312785
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.09.25.312785
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/09/25/2020.09.25.312785.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/09/25/2020.09.25.312785.full
AB  - The cortical subplate is critical in regulating the entry of thalamocortical sensory afferents into the cortex. These afferents reach the subplate at embryonic day (E)15.5 in the mouse, but “wait” for several days, entering the cortical plate postnatally. We report that when transcription factor Lhx2 is lost in E11.5 cortical progenitors, which give rise to subplate neurons, thalamocortical afferents display premature, exuberant innervation of the E15.5 cortex. Embryonic mutant subplate neurons are correctly positioned below the cortical plate, but they display an altered transcriptome and immature electrophysiological properties during the waiting period. The sensory thalamus in these cortex-specific Lhx2 mutants displays atrophy, eventually leading to severe deficits in thalamocortical innervation. Strikingly, these phenotypes do not manifest if Lhx2 is lost in postmitotic subplate neurons. These results demonstrate a mechanism operating in subplate progenitors that has profound consequences on the growth of thalamocortical axons into the cortex.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.