Chromatin structure as a molecular marker of cell lineage and developmental potential in neural crest-derived chromaffin cells

David J. Vandenbergh, Carol W. Wuenschell, Nozomu Mori, David J. Anderson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Adrenal medullary chromaffin cells have the capacity to transdifferentiate into sympathetic neurons. We show here that SCG10, a neural-specific gene that is induced during this transdifferentiation, is maintained in mature chromaffin cells in a potentially active chromatin conformation marked by two DNAase I hypersensitive sites (HSS). A low level of transcription is associated with this conformation. The HSS are also present in neurons expressing high levels of SCG10, but not in nonneuronal cells. Experiments using transgenic mice suggest that these HSS can in principle form in any cell type expressing the gene, but that a cis-repression mechanism normally prevents their assembly in nonneuronal cells. We suggest that the SCG10 HSS may represent a molecular marker of the lineage and phenotypic plasticity of chromaffin cells.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)507-518
Number of pages12
JournalNeuron
Volume3
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1989

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Neuroscience

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