Differential gene expression in tthat occurs during the conversion from symmetrically ddividing neuroepithelial stem cells into asymmetricallly dividing neural progenitos

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The neuroepithelium of the outer proliferating center (OPC) of the Drosophila larval optic lobe comprises the primordia for optic neurons. The neural precursors undergo enormous expansion probably before and sometimes even after differentiating into neuroblasts (NBs), which ultimately produce optic neurons. However, no study has yet provided a detailed explanation of how this expansion occurs. Here we show that neuroepithelial cells (NEs) at the margin of the core neuroepithelial region of the OPC convert individually into NBs during G1 phase. As the cell cycle progresses from G1 to the S phase, the transition is completed. During this G1 period, a cell that used to be an NE becomes committed to differentiate, alters its cell phase control, and changes its morphology from a columnar to a drop-like shape by reorganizing the adherens junctions that had linked it to other NE cells, to finally become an NB and commence asymmetric division.