A stochastic model of neurogenesis controlled by a single factor

Abstract

The researches on cortical neurogenesis reveal that asymmetric division plays a key role in controlling the balance between the self-renewal of stem cells and the beginning of the neural differentiation. In such a process a neural stem cell divides by mitosis, originating a postmitotic neuron and other pluripotent stem cell available for subsequent differentiation events. In addition, studies of cell lineage trees of cultured neural progenitors reveal tree shapes and subtrees recurrent, consistent with a stochastic model of division symmetrical/asymmetrical. These considerations have led us to develop a stochastic model of neurogenesis in order to explore the possibility that this is controlled primarily by a single factor (i.e. the concentration of mNumb in the cell). We contrast the predictions of our model with experimental data and compare it with other models of neurogenesis.