Turn on cookies to sign in
Signing in saves your progress to your Curie account. We can only do that with cookies on — turn them on to continue.
Scientists in Japan have developed a new gene expression system called Cro/OR3 that lets researchers independently control two different cell types at once. By pairing it with an existing tool, they discovered that astrocytes — support cells in the brain — play a key role in positioning motor neurons in the spinal cord. The system works in both zebrafish and human cells, opening doors for broader disease research.
Scientists at Japan's National Institute of Genetics have built a new genetic toolkit — called the Cro/OR3 system — that allows researchers to independently control gene expression in two distinct cell types simultaneously. Previously, tools like the widely used Gal4/UAS system could only target one cell type at a time, making it hard to study how different cells interact with each other.
By combining Cro/OR3 with the existing Gal4/UAS system in zebrafish, the team was able to manipulate astrocytes and neurons independently in the same living animal. Their experiments revealed that astrocytes — long considered mere support cells — actually influence where motor neurons end up in the spinal cord. When a disease-linked mutation in an astrocytic glutamate transporter (associated with episodic ataxia type 6) was introduced, motor neuron positioning was disrupted.
Key Takeaways:
Why it matters: Understanding how different cell types influence one another is fundamental to unraveling neurological diseases. This new tool gives researchers a powerful, flexible way to study those interactions directly in living organisms — potentially accelerating discoveries in neuroscience and beyond.