Sulfatase 2 promotes generation of a spinal cord astrocyte subtype that stands out through the expression of Olig2

Abstract

Generation of glial cell diversity in the developing spinal cord is known to depend on spatio-temporal patterning programs. In particular, expression of the transcription factor Olig2 in neural progenitors of the pMN domain is recognized as critical to their fate choice decision to form oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) instead of astrocyte precursors (APs). However, generating some confusion, lineage-tracing studies of Olig2 progenitors in the spinal cord provided evidence that these progenitors also generate some astrocytes. Here, we addressed the role of the heparan sulfate-editing enzyme Sulf2 in the control of gliogenesis and found an unanticipated function for this enzyme. At initiation of gliogenesis in mouse, Sulf2 is expressed in ventral neural progenitors of the embryonic spinal cord, including in Olig2-expressing cells of the pMN domain. We found that sulf2 deletion, while not affecting OPC production, impairs generation of a previously unknown Olig2-expressing pMN-derived cell subtype that, in contrast to OPCs, does not upregulate Sox10, PDGFRα or Olig1. Instead, these cells activate expression of AP identity genes, including aldh1L1 and fgfr3 and, of note, retain Olig2 expression as they populate the spinal parenchyma at embryonic stages but also as they differentiate into mature astrocytes at postnatal stages. Thus, our study, by revealing the existence of Olig2-expressing APs that segregate early from pMN cells under the influence of Sulf2, supports the existence of a common source of APs and OPCs in the ventral spinal cord and highlights divergent regulatory mechanism for the development of pMN-derived OPCs and APs.