C. elegans CEH-43/DLX drives convergent astrocyte differentiation by sequential control of axon guidance and synaptic gene expression programs.

CEH-43/DLX drives convergent astrocyte-like glia differentiation in C. elegans, regulating axon guidance and synaptic gene expression programs.

• Why it matters: Understanding how diverse radial glia transform into functionally similar astrocytes addresses a key gap in neurodevelopmental biology and may reveal conserved mechanisms across species.
• What they did: Using lineage-restricted single-cell RNA sequencing, the study characterized the transcriptional program of CEPsh glia development, identifying CEH-43 as a central regulator of both early and mature glial gene expression.
• The result: The findings demonstrate that CEH-43 controls a conserved transcriptional network, enabling CEPsh glia to converge onto a shared state and mature into astrocyte-like cells, with implications for understanding astrocyte development across animals.