Distinct subnetworks of the thalamic reticular nucleus
Authors: João Peça
Gang Pan
Xuyun Sun
Mario A Arias-Garcia
Guoping Feng
Baolin Guo
Joshua Z Levin
Alexandra Krol
Alexander Atamian
Dasheng Bi
Zhanyan Fu
Reut Shema
Marcos Gomes
Violeta G Lopez-Huerta
Timothy R Blosser
Monika Kowalczyk
Yinqing Li
Tina Naik
Michael M Halassa
Taibo Li
Diya Malhotra
Ralf D Wimmer
Annie Y Yao
Cynthia C Hession
Kirsten Levandowski
Soonwook Choi
Tomomi Aida
Xian Adiconis
Sean K Simmons
Eunjin Hwang
Journal: Nature (2020)
Discipline: Multidisciplinary
Keywords: Thalamic reticular nucleus; TRN; sensory processing; attention; cognition
Affiliations: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P. R. China., The Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA., McGovern Institute for Brain Research and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA., Institute of Cellular Physiology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico., Klarman Cell Observatory, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA., Faculty of Psychology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico., College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, P. R. China., University of Coimbra, Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Coimbra, Portugal., University of Coimbra, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, Coimbra, Portugal., Center for Neuroscience, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea., University of Coimbra, Department of Life Sciences, Coimbra, Portugal., The Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA. ., Klarman Cell Observatory, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA. ., McGovern Institute for Brain Research and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. .

Abstract:  The thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), the major source of thalamic inhibition, regulates thalamocortical interactions that are critical for sensory processing, attention and cognition1-5. TRN dysfunction has been linked to sensory abnormality, attention deficit and sleep disturbance across multiple neurodevelopmental disorders6-9. However, little is known about the organizational principles that underlie its divergent functions. Here we performed an integrative study linking single-cell molecular and electrophysiological features of the mouse TRN to connectivity and systems-level function. We found that cellular heterogeneity in the TRN is characterized by a transcriptomic gradient of two negatively correlated gene-expression profiles, each containing hundreds of genes. Neurons in the extremes of this transcriptomic gradient express mutually exclusive markers, exhibit core or shell-like anatomical structure and have distinct electrophysiological properties. The two TRN subpopulations make differential connections with the functionally distinct first-order and higher-order thalamic nuclei to form molecularly defined TRN-thalamus subnetworks. Selective perturbation of the two subnetworks in vivo revealed their differential role in regulating sleep. In sum, our study provides a comprehensive atlas of TRN neurons at single-cell resolution and links molecularly defined subnetworks to the functional organization of thalamocortical circuits. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Figure 6A. * Red boxes: The AKT1 and AKT2 panels look similar to each other. ![file] ,