Concerted metabolic shift in early forebrain alters the CSF proteome and depends on cMYC downregulation for mitochondrial maturation

Massive, coordinated cellular changes accompany the transition of central nervous system (CNS) progenitors from forebrain neurectodermal cells to specified neuroepithelial cells. We previously found that c-MYC regulates the changing ribosomal and proteostatic landscapes in mouse forebrain precursors at embryonic days E8.5 vs. E10.5 (before vs. after neural tube closure; NTC) (Chau et al., 2018). Here we demonstrate parallel coordinated transcriptional changes in metabolic machinery during this same stage of forebrain specification. Progenitors showed striking mitochondrial structural changes transitioning from glycolytic cristae at E8.5, to more traditional mitochondria at E10.5. Accordingly, glucose usage shifted in progenitors such that E8.5 progenitors relied on glycolysis, and after NTC increasingly used oxidative phosphorylation. This metabolic shift was matched by changes in surrounding amniotic and cerebrospinal fluid proteomes. Importantly, these mitochondrial morphological shifts depend on c-MYC downregulation. Together, our findings demonstrate metabolic shifting accompanies dynamic organelle and proteostatic remodeling of progenitor cells during the earliest stages of forebrain development.