High impact information on olig2

• As shown in mice, chickens, and zebrafish, two members of this group, olig1 and olig2, are involved in the differentiation of motoneurons and oligodendrocytes, but nothing is known about the role of the third member, olig3 [1].
• Using genetic and pharmacological manipulations, we provide evidence that these biases emerge from Hh acting over time to set, maintain, subdivide and enlarge the olig2+ precursor domain and subsequently specify oligodendrocyte development [2].
• Developing primary motor neurons and oligodendrocytes express olig2 as do neural plate cells that give rise to both primary motor neurons and oligodendrocytes [3].
• Commitment of ventral neural progenitors to the oligodendrocyte fate is thought to require co-ordinate, hedgehog-dependent expression of olig2 and nkx2.2a in these cells, leading to expression of sox10 and subsequent differentiation of oligodendrocytes [4].
• Our results identify hdac1 as a novel, essential component of the mechanism that allocates neural progenitors to the oligodendrocyte fate, by attenuating expression of a subset of neural progenitor genes and rendering olig2 expression responsive to Hedgehog signalling [4].

Anatomical context of olig2

• One possibility consistent with these data is that Hedgehog signaling, partly by inducing olig2 expression, specifies neural precursor cells that have potential for primary motor neuron or oligodendrocyte fate [3].

References