Summary: A new study in eLife reports lunatic fringe genes mediates a mechanism that preserves neural stem cells, so they can form new neurons throughout life. The findings, researchers say, have far-reaching implications for the study of neurogenesis.

Source: Baylor.

The discovery that the brain can generate new cells – about 700 new neurons each day – has triggered investigations to uncover how this process is regulated. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital have developed a novel mouse model that for the first time selectively identifies neural stem cells, the progenitors of new adult brain cells. In these mice, researchers have found a novel mechanism by which descendants of neural stem cells can send feedback signals to alter the division and the fate of the mother cell. These…