ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2009
Gamma and alpha motor neurons distinguished by expression of transcription factor Err3.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 139 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
139 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A standardized framework resolves ambiguity in motor neuron loss across neurodegenerative diseases.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2026Pooled it
- Revisiting the muscle spindle in ALS: Implications for spinal motor network dysfunction.Pflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology · 2026Review
- Targeted knockdown of Smn in muscle stem cells induces non-cell autonomous loss of motor neurons.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Article
- A who's who of cell types in skeletal muscle.Communications biology · 2026Review
- The Prospective Regulatory Functions of lncRNAs and Their ceRNA Networks in the Development of Motor Neurons and Associated Diseases.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Article
- Blue plaque review series: Thomas Graham Brown: Before his time.Experimental physiology · 2026Review
- VAPB confers selective neuroprotection by driving autophagic degradation of pathogenic aggregates in ALS.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2026Article
- A standardized framework resolves ambiguity in motor neuron loss across neurodegenerative diseases.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Little Known Facts, Controversies and Misconceptions About Cranial Motor Nuclei (and a New Classification for All Motoneurons, Cranial, and Spinal).The Journal of comparative neurology · 2026Review
- A consensus spinal cord cell type atlas across mouse, macaque, and human.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Spatial transcriptomics reveals organizational properties of mouse spinal cord and alterations in neuropathic pain.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Defining spinal motor neuron subtypes across development: from embryonic specification to postnatal maturation.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Review
- Reframing myofascial pain syndrome: pathological disorder or adaptive protective response?Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2026Review
- Age-related changes and lack of effect of midlife resistance wheel exercise on afferent connectivity of lumbar alpha motor neurons in ageing mouse spinal cord.Biogerontology · 2025Article
- A 3D Atlas of Visceral and Somatic Pelvic Motor Neurons in Whole Mounts of Female and Male Rat Spinal Cords.The Journal of comparative neurology · 2025Article
- A sensory and motor neuropathy caused by a genetic variant ofScience advances · 2025Article
- A galanin-positive population of lumbar spinal cord neurons modulates sexual arousal and copulatory behavior in male mice.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Neuroanatomical and neurochemical atlas of the spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus) spinal cord.Brain structure & function · 2025Article
- An organ-chip model of sporadic ALS using iPSC-derived spinal cord motor neurons and an integrated blood-brain-like barrier.Cell stem cell · 2025Article
79 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Spinal motor neurons are specified to innervate different muscle targets through combinatorial programs of transcription factor expression. Whether transcriptional programs also establish finer aspects of motor neuron subtype identity, notably the prominent functional distinction between alpha and gamma motor neurons, remains unclear. In this study, we identify DNA binding proteins with complementary expression profiles in alpha and gamma motor neurons, providing evidence for molecular distinctions in these two motor neuron subtypes. The transcription factor Err3 is expressed at high levels in gamma but not alpha motor neurons, whereas the neuronal DNA binding protein NeuN marks alpha but not gamma motor neurons. Signals from muscle spindles are needed to support the differentiation of Err3(on)/NeuN(off) presumptive gamma motor neurons, whereas direct proprioceptive sensory input to a motor neuron pool is apparently dispensable. Together, these findings provide evidence that transcriptional programs define functionally distinct motor neuron subpopulations, even within anatomically defined motor pools.
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