Multiomic atlas of the developing thalamus reveals how neuronal identities emerge

A team from the Institute for Neurosciences, a joint center of CSIC and Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), built a multiomic atlas of the developing mouse thalamus, showing that sensory neurons and neurons serving motor and associative functions follow distinct differentiation trajectories from early embryonic stages. The team integrated single-cell gene expression with chromatin accessibility analysis and used genetic labeling to trace progenitor fate, confirming that sensory lineages pass through a state resembling higher-order nucleus neurons before specializing.