Epigenetic background of neuronal fate determination

The development of the central nervous system (CNS) starts from neural stem cells (NSCs). During this process, NSCs are specified in space- and time-related fashions, becoming spatially heterogeneous and generating a progressively restricted repertoire of cell types: neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The processes of neurodevelopment are determined reciprocally by intrinsic and external factors which interface to program and re-program the profiling of fate-determination gene expression. Multiple signaling pathways act in a dynamic web mode to determine the fate of NSCs through modulating the activity of a distinct set of transcription factors which in turn trigger the transcription of neural fate-determination genes. Accumulating evidence reveals that during CNS development. multiple epigenetic factors regulate the activities of extracellular signaling and corresponding transcription factors in a coordinative manner, leading to the formation of a system with sophisticated structure and magic functions. This review aims to introduce recent advances in the epigenetic background of neural cell fate determination. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.