REGULATION OF RNA-BINDING PROTEIN EXPRESSION (RBPs) IN THE EMBRYONIC SPINAL CORD

• Grant number: 25/13037-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2025
• End date: September 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Embryology
• Principal Investigator: Chao Yun Irene Yan
• Grantee: Beatriz do Nascimento Barbosa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

During nervous system development, neuronal differentiation requires precise post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, a process largely mediated by RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). These proteins control events such as alternative splicing, mRNA stability, localization, and translation, ensuring the temporal and spatial specificity of cellular responses. Neuronal RBPs such as HuC/ELAVL3, HuD/ELAVL4, and NeuN/Rbfox3 stabilize and regulate the splicing of transcripts associated with neurite outgrowth and synaptic plasticity. Although their effects are well characterized, the initial regulatory signals that control the expression of these RBPs during neurogenesis remain poorly understood, revealing a critical gap in our understanding of the mechanisms that establish neural identity from the earliest embryonic stages.In this context, the transcription factors Scratch2 (Scrt2) and NeuroD4 emerge as potential direct regulators of RBP expression during cellular differentiation. Both are expressed in post-mitotic neural cells and participate in gene modulation during nervous system development. This project, therefore, aims to explore how the overexpression of Scrt2 and NeuroD4 affects the dynamics of HuC/D and NeuN in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and neural tube of Gallus gallus, contributing to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the formation of the somatosensory system.