A mosaic of new and old cell types

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 377; no. 6610; pp. 1043 - 1044
• Main Authors: Faltine-Gonzalez, Dylan Z., Kebschull, Justus M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington The American Association for the Advancement of Science 02.09.2022
• Subjects: Amphibians; Brain; Evolution; Mosaics; Regeneration; Reptiles; Reptiles & amphibians; Telencephalon; Transcriptomics; Vertebrates
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.add9465

Comparative transcriptomics could reveal patterns of cell type evolution in the tetrapod brain Over the past decade, hundreds of cell types have been identified in specialized brain regions of the laboratory mouse. How this staggering diversity of cell types and regions evolved is currently unknown. On pages 1060, 1063, 1061, and 1062 of this issue, Hain et al. ( 1 ), Woych et al. ( 2 ), Lust et al. ( 3 ), and Wei et al. ( 4 ), respectively, leverage singlecell and spatial transcriptomics in reptiles and amphibians to investigate cell type evolution at the brain scale. Hain et al. produce a whole-brain cell atlas of the bearded dragon. Woych et al. profile the developing and adult salamander telencephalon. Lust et al. and Wei et al. tackle the axolotl telencephalon during development and regeneration using complementary single-cell multi-omic and new spatial transcriptomic techniques. Together, these studies reveal that rather than being a set of old and new regions, vertebrate brains are formed from a mosaic of conserved and new cell types.