Conserved and divergent programs govern cerebellar output neuron development in zebrafish
- 1Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University
Abstract
Cerebellar output neurons transmit the results of cerebellar computation to other brain regions. In most vertebrates, cerebellar output neurons form discrete nuclei, whereas in teleosts they are represented by eurydendroid cells, which differ markedly in morphology and anatomical organization. How these divergent output systems are developmentally related remains unclear. Here, we show that zebrafish eurydendroid cells arise from atoh1a-expressing progenitors, including a population expressing olig2, revealing a developmental origin shared with cerebellar output neurons in other vertebrates. atoh1a is required for eurydendroid cell differentiation and regulates lhx9 and lhx2b, which promote robo1 and robo3 expression and proper axon guidance. Our findings also suggest a role for Reelin signaling in eurydendroid cell positioning. Together, these findings reveal conserved developmental features shared by cerebellar output neurons across vertebrates, as well as mechanisms underlying the distinct anatomical organization of teleost eurydendroid cells.
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BibTeX
@misc{koyamafujii2026conserved,
title = {{Conserved and divergent programs govern cerebellar output neuron development in zebrafish}},
author = {Y. Koyama-Fujii and C. U. Kidwell and N. Moshe and I. Bassi and K. Yaniv and C. B. Moens and T. Shimizu and M. Hibi},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.15.751670},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.15.751670v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Conserved and divergent programs govern cerebellar output neuron development in zebrafish
AU - Y. Koyama-Fujii
AU - C. U. Kidwell
AU - N. Moshe
AU - I. Bassi
AU - K. Yaniv
AU - C. B. Moens
AU - T. Shimizu
AU - M. Hibi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/15
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.15.751670
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.15.751670v1
AB - Cerebellar output neurons transmit the results of cerebellar computation to other brain regions. In most vertebrates, cerebellar output neurons form discrete nuclei, whereas in teleosts they are represented by eurydendroid cells, which differ markedly in morphology and anatomical organization. How these divergent output systems are developmentally related remains unclear. Here, we show that zebrafish eurydendroid cells arise from atoh1a-expressing progenitors, including a population expressing olig2, revealing a developmental origin shared with cerebellar output neurons in other vertebrates. atoh1a is required for eurydendroid cell differentiation and regulates lhx9 and lhx2b, which promote robo1 and robo3 expression and proper axon guidance. Our findings also suggest a role for Reelin signaling in eurydendroid cell positioning. Together, these findings reveal conserved developmental features shared by cerebellar output neurons across vertebrates, as well as mechanisms underlying the distinct anatomical organization of teleost eurydendroid cells.
ER -