Sensory modality-specific wiring of thalamocortical circuits

The thalamus is an essential element for sensory information processing, serving as a link between peripheral sensory stimuli and cortical circuits. Consequently, the development of thalamocortical (TC) projections has been a central focus in systems neuroscience. Although substantial progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms guiding thalamic axon navigation from the diencephalon to the cortex, our understanding of the processes underlying sensory modality specificity in TC circuits remains incomplete. Modern genomic, physiological and imaging approaches have yielded exciting results, providing novel insights into the specialization of visual, somatosensory and auditory TC circuits. Recent findings have shed light on the genetic and spontaneous activity mechanisms involved in the formation of distinct sensory modalities, rekindling the interest in the thalamus and opening new research perspectives on the development of this diencephalic structure. The use of transcriptomic technologies has led to advances in our understanding of thalamocortical targeting during development. In this Review, Guillamón-Vivancos et al. discuss these advances in the context of how transcriptomic changes and neuronal activity work in concert to drive sensory modality specificity during the development of thalamic sensory nuclei.