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Postnatal subventricular zone progenitors switch their fate to generate neurons with distinct synaptic input patterns

New granule cell neurons (GCs) generated in the neonatal and adult subventricular zone (SVZ) have distinct patterns of input synapses in their dendritic domains. These synaptic input patterns determine the computations that the neurons eventually perform in the olfactory bulb. We observed that GCs generated earlier in postnatal life had acquired an ‘adult’ synaptic development only in one dendritic domain, and only later-born GCs showed an ‘adult’ synaptic development in both dendritic domains. It is unknown to what extent the distinct synaptic input patterns are already determined in SVZ progenitors and/or by the brain circuit into which neurons integrate. To distinguish these possibilities, we heterochronically transplanted retrovirally labeled SVZ progenitor cells. Once these transplanted progenitors, which mainly expressed Mash1, had differentiated into GCs, their glutamatergic input synapses were visualized by genetic tags. We observed that GCs derived from neonatal progenitors differentiating in the adult maintained their characteristic neonatal synapse densities. Grafting of adult SVZ progenitors to the neonate had a different outcome. These GCs formed synaptic densities that corresponded to neither adult nor neonatal patterns in two dendritic domains. In summary, progenitors in the neonatal and adult brain generate distinct GC populations and switch their fate to generate neurons with specific synaptic input patterns. Once they switch, adult progenitors require specific properties of the circuit to maintain their characteristic synaptic input patterns. Such determination of synaptic input patterns already at the progenitor-cell level may be exploited for brain repair to engineer neurons with defined wiring patterns. Summary: Heterochronic grafting experiments using postnatal or adult SVZ progenitors reveal key differences in the connective properties of the neurons generated.