Mechanisms of neuropsychiatric risk: how disease genes shape early brain development

Christian Mayer
Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence
Groupe leader Neurogenomics
Martinsried, Germany
Site web

Résumé
The mammalian telencephalon contains diverse inhibitory neuron subtypes essential for balanced circuit function. This diversity emerges from progenitor populations through gene regulatory programs centered on cis-regulatory elements, where transcription factors, cofactors, and chromatin regulators interact to establish lineage-specific patterns of gene expression. Increasing genetic evidence indicates that neurodevelopmental risk frequently affects this regulatory layer, biasing developmental allocation and altering subtype proportions rather than disrupting mature cell identity.

In this seminar, I will present work combining clonal lineage tracing with single-cell genomics and in vivo perturbation to link enhancer-level regulatory programs to neuronal diversification. Focusing on the disease-associated transcription factor SP9, we show that its loss redirects striatal progenitors toward alternative identities, revealing specification as a competitive process encoded in regulatory networks. These findings illustrate how shifts in regulatory output can reshape neuronal composition and provide a mechanistic bridge between gene regulation, development, and psychiatric disease.

Invité par Stéphane Bugeon

Lundi 11 mai 2026 à 11h – Salle de conférence de l’Inmed