Temporal and Spatial Patterning of Esrrb Expression During Cerebellar Development

The cerebellum is a part of the brain responsible for fine motor skills such as balance and coordination. Defective cerebellar development can often cause impairment of motor functions. While we have a good understanding of the anatomical changes during cerebellar development, genetic regulation that drives these changes are largely unknown. We previously collected mRNA transcripts from developing mouse cerebellum and sequenced them to obtain gene expression levels at several time points. A gene expression network was then constructed using this data in hopes of identifying important genes during cerebellar development. Among the genes in the network, Estrogen-related receptor beta (Esrrb) was determined through a list of biological criteria to likely be involved in cerebellar development. To understand the role of Esrrb in cerebellar development, we sought to identify the spatial distribution of Esrrb and Essrb-expressing cell-type in the developing cerebellum. In-situ hybridization (ISH) and immunofluorescence staining of Esrrb were performed on embryonic cerebellum to determine the spatial distribution of Esrrb at different time points in cerebellar development. ISH confirmed Esrrb expression in the cerebellum while immunofluorescence localized Esrrb expression to the ventricular zone at early embryonic stages and to the Purkinje cell layer at late embryonic stages. In addition, Esrrb was co-stained with other cell-type specific markers to identify the cell-type of Esrrb-expressing cells. Positive immunofluorescence co-staining with Ptf1a suggested Esrrb expression in GABAergic cells. Furthermore, co-staining with other markers suggest that Esrrb is specific to Purkinje cell progenitors in the developing cerebellum, a cell-type important in normal cerebellar function.Medicine, Faculty ofScience, Faculty ofUnreviewedUndergraduat