Fiche publication
Date publication
novembre 2024
Journal
Brain, behavior and evolution
Auteurs
Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Dr GIANGRANDE Angela
Tous les auteurs :
Monticelli S, Giangrande A
Lien Pubmed
Résumé
Background Glia represent a major cell population of the nervous system and they take part in virtually any process sustaining the development, the functioning and the pathology of the nervous system. Glial cells diversified significantly during evolution and distinct signals have been adopted to initiate glial development in mammals as compared to flies. In the invertebrate model Drosophila melanogaster, the transcription factor Gcm is necessary and sufficient to generate glial cells. Although Gcm orthologs have been found in protostomes and deuterostomes, they do not act in glial fate commitment as in flies, calling for further investigations of the evolutionarily conserved role of Gcm. Summary Here, we review the impact of the fly Gcm transcription factor in the differentiation of phagocytic competent cells inside and outside the nervous system, glia and macrophages respectively. Then, we discuss the evolutionary conservation of Gcm and the neural/non-neural functions of Gcm orthologs. Finally, we present a recent work from Pavlidaki et al. showing that the Gcm cascade is conserved from fly macrophages to mammalian microglia to counteract acute and chronic inflammation. Key Messages Gcm has an ancestral role in immunity and its anti-inflammatory effect is evolutionarily conserved. This opens new avenues to assess Gcm function in other species/animal models, its potential involvement in inflammation-related processes, such as regeneration, and to expand the investigation on glia evolution.
Référence
Brain Behav Evol. 2024 11 25;:1-15
