UNCOVERING CONSERVED MECHANISMS OF NEUROGENIC COMPETENCE THROUGH CROSS-SPECIES COMPARISON

Adult neurogenesis refers to the generation of functional neurons from neural stem cells in the adult brain. This process occurs across many vertebrate species and is typically confined to restricted anatomical regions known as neurogenic niches. In contrast to mammals, lower vertebrates retain robust, lifelong neurogenic capacity, especially in response to injury. Despite extensive work identifying regional factors that support stem cell differentiation into neurons, a comprehensive and comparative characterization of neurogenic niches is still lacking. This gap in research is partly due to the intrinsic complexity of these environments. However, recent advances in omics technologies have enabled a high-resolution analysis of cellular and regional states, offering a new framework to address this challenge.

Here, we integrate single-cell and spatial transcriptomic datasets to compare neurogenic versus non-neurogenic contexts across development and regeneration, within and between species with different regenerative abilities. The central innovation of this project is a shift beyond a purely regional comparison, toward a functional niche state perspective, potentially enabling the identification of candidate genes, pathways and spatial configurations that distinguish neurogenic versus non-neurogenic environments.

Overall, through integration of newly generated data with public datasets and existing literature, we aim to uncover molecular determinants of neurogenic competence, with potential relevance for regenerative medicine strategies.