Title: Transcriptional controls over neocortical projection neuron identity and connectivity
Description: The complex and sophisticated circuitry of the neocortex is assembled from an extraordinarily diverse repertoire of neuronal subtypes that reside in distinct functional areas. In recent years, a number of key regulators over neocortical projection neuron subtype and area specification have been identified. It is becoming increasingly clear that these regulators function within a highly-interconnected network, acting in parallel, synergistically, and cross-repressively to orchestrate cortical development. Moreover, an emerging understanding of cortical development has revealed that subtype and area identity are intimately interrelated, and that specification occurs based on several sequential molecular decision points.