Short-read and long-read full-length transcriptome of mouse neural stem cells across neurodevelopmental stages

Abstract

During brain development, neural stem cells (NSCs) undergo multiple fate-switches to generate various neuronal subtypes and glial cells, exhibiting distinct transcriptomic profiles at different stages. However, full-length transcriptomic datasets of NSCs across different neurodevelopmental stages under similar experimental settings are lacking, which is essential for uncovering stage-specific transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms underlying the fate commitment of NSCs. Here, we report the full-length transcriptome of mouse NSCs at five different stages during embryonic and postnatal development. We used fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS) to isolate CD133+Blbp+ NSCs from C57BL/6 transgenic mice that express enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) under the control of a Blbp promoter. By integrating short- and long-read full-length RNA-seq, we created a transcriptomic dataset of gene and isoform expression profiles in NSCs at embryonic days 15.5, 17.5, and postnatal days 1.5, 8, and 60. This dataset provides a detailed characterization of full-length transcripts in NSCs at distinct developmental stages, which could be used as a resource for the neuroscience community to study NSC fate determination, neural development, and disease.