Two Signals -- From Within And Out Of Cell -- Specify Motor Neuron Differentiation

ScienceDaily (June 10, 2009) -Science News

Two Signals -- From Within And Out Of Cell -- Specify Motor Neuron Differentiation

ScienceDaily (June 10, 2009) — Two signals – an external one from retinoic acid and an internal one from the transcription factor Neurogenin2 – cooperate to activate chromatin (the basic material of chromosomes) and help determine that certain nerve progenitor cells become motor neurons, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report in the current issue of the journal Neuron.

Full text: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090610124411.htm

Keywords: motor neurons , stem cells, Neurogenin2, retinoic acid , histone acetyltransferase , histones , transcription , nerve progenitor cells, muscular dystrophies