Abstract

Neural identity is thought to be established at or near the time at which neurons exit the cell cycle to become postmitotic cells, and is largely determined by intrinsic factors such as proneural genes and homeodomain proteins. Once the identity of a neuron has been established, it is generally accepted that its fate is maintained throughout life, and will not change even after heterotopic transplantation. This contributes to maintaining a stable ‘ground state’ that defines their role in functional circuits. Consequently, neural responses to environmental changes are thought to emerge through the function of neural circuits in which the identity of neurons remains stable. Based on these principles, the search for the mechanisms controlling the diversity of GAB Aergic interneurons in the cerebral cortex has primarily focused on the analysis of transcriptional programs in their progenitor cells. In this seminar, I will describe how transcriptional programmes, both during embryonic development and in the postnatal brain, regulate the identity of specific classes of cortical interneurons, thereby contributing to the generation of neuronal diversity in the cerebral cortex.