Wieland B. Huttner - Neurogenesis in the mammalian central nervous system

Previous and current research

CNS neurons originate from neuroepithelial cells. We study the cell biological mechanisms underlying the switch of neuroepithelial cells from proliferation to neurogenesis in the mouse embryo. Prior to, during, and as a consequence of, neurogenesis, neuroepithelial cells down-regulate a number of epithelial features. Expression of the antiproliferative gene TIS21 can be used (i) as a tool to distinguish between proliferating and neuron-generating neuroepithelial cells and (ii) as a means of imaging neuron-generating divisions of neuroepithelial cells. To study the distribution, during mitosis, of cellular components in the context of the apico-basal axis of neuroepithelial cells, we have focused on prominin, a pentaspan membrane protein identified by our group that is sorted to the apical surface of neuroepithelial cells and specifically retained in plasma membrane protrusions. Prominin is associated with a novel, cholesterol-based lipid raft.

Future prospects and goals

Future projects concern the cell biological as well as genomic basis of neurogenesis in the mammalian central nervous system. Our goal is to elucidate, at the molecular level, the switch of neuroepithelial cells from proliferative to neuron-generating division.

Selected publications

Dubreuil, Veronique; Marzesco, Anne-Marie; Corbeil, Denis; Huttner, Wieland B; Wilsch-Bräuninger, Michaela (2007): Midbody and primary cilium of neural progenitors release extracellular membrane particles enriched in the stem cell marker prominin-1. J. Cell Biol. 176 (4): 483-495.

Fish, Jennifer L; Kosodo, Yoichi; Enard, Wolfgang; Paabo, Svante; Huttner, Wieland B (2006): Aspm specifically maintains symmetric proliferative divisions of neuroepithelial cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103 (27): 10438-10443

Huttner WB, Kosodo Y. (2005): Symmetric versus asymmetric cell division during neurogenesis in the developing vertebrate central nervous system. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2005 Dec;17(6):648-57.

Gotz M, Huttner WB. (2005): The cell biology of neurogenesis. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2005 Oct;6(10):777-88. Review.

Calegari F, Haubensak W, Haffner C, Huttner WB. (2005): Selective lengthening of the cell cycle in the neurogenic subpopulation of neural progenitor cells during mouse brain development. J Neurosci. 2005 Jul 13;25(28):6533-8.

Kosodo, Y., Röper, K., Haubensak, W., Marzesco, A. M., Corbeil, D. and Huttner, W. B. (2004): Asymmetric distribution of the apical plasma membrane during neurogenic divisions of mammalian neuroepithelial cells. EMBO J., 23, 2314-2324

Haubensak, W., Attardo, A., Denk, W. and Huttner, W. B. (2004): Neurons arise in the basal neuroepithelium of the early mammalian telencephalon: A major site of neurogenesis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA, 101, 3196-32015.

Wieland B. Huttner

1976: MD, University of Hamburg, Germany

1976-1977: Post-doctoral Fellow, Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany

1977-1979: Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

1979-1980: Research Associate, Department of Pharmacology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

1981-1985: Junior Group Leader, Max-Planck-Institute for Psychiatry, Department of Neurochemistry, Martinsried, Germany

1985-1990: Group Leader, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany

1991-2000: Professor and Chair, Institute for Neurobiology, University of Heidelberg, Germany

since 1998: Director, Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden

since 2002: Honorary Professor of Neurobiology, Dresden University of Technology