Fig. 3: Novel markers for distinguishing alpha, gamma, and Type 3 motor neurons. | Nature Communications

Fig. 3: Novel markers for distinguishing alpha, gamma, and Type 3 motor neurons.

From: Single nucleus RNA-sequencing defines unexpected diversity of cholinergic neuron types in the adult mouse spinal cord

Fig. 3

a Expression of known alpha and gamma markers by skeletal clusters. b Dot plot for the top marker genes for each skeletal cluster, showing more shared expression between clusters S1 and S2. c Expression of novel and specific marker genes for each skeletal MN subtype. d ISH showing expression of novel alpha MN markers Stk32a (red) and Sv2b (yellow) co-expressed with known alpha marker Rbfox3 (magenta) in large diameter Chat+ (cyan) ventral horn neurons. Arrowheads highlight examples of large diameter, triple-positive alpha MNs; arrow highlights the example of a small diameter Chat+ MN that is negative for all 3 alpha markers (i.e., gamma or Type 3). e ISH image overlayed on endogenous Chat-Cre::Ai14 labeling showing expression of S1 marker Gpr149 (yellow), S2 marker Stk32a (cyan), and S3 marker Nrp2 (red). High magnification images highlight a large MN expressing Stk32a and surrounded by C-boutons (examples indicated by arrows), characteristic of alpha MNs, and a small MN expressing Nrp2 and lacking C-boutons, characteristic of gamma MNs. ISH from the ventral horn of lumbar spinal cord sections. Low magnification scale bars, 100 µm. High magnification scale bars, d 50 µm, e 20 µm.

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