NEUROSCI 223 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Oligodendrocyte, Notch Signaling Pathway, Neuroblast

• School: Duke University
• Department: Neuroscience
• Course: NEUROSCI 223
• Professor: Nina Sherwood

Document Summary

One of the most commonly used signaling pathways during development for generating cellular diversity. Has a single unitary function independent of developmental context! In the absence of notch signaling (in the cell that expresses delta) proneural genes are turned on, which in turn express more delta. The higher the level of delta, the more it can signal the neighboring notch expressing cell to turn off the proneural genes. Binding of ligand (eg. delta) triggers proteolytic cleavage of notch intracellular domain, which translocates to the nucleus to change gene expression. This leads to expression of hes genes, which inhibit neuronal fate by repressing proneural genes: give three examples of notch signaling utilized during nervous system development and what the function of this pathway for each example. Drosophila embryonic neuroblast selection: notch signaling is associated with epidermal fate, and delta (notch ligand) expression is associated with neuroblasts.