Work

Neural specification, targeting, and circuit formation during visual system assembly

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Significance How genes direct the development of the nervous system is a fundamental question in neurobiology. Here, we describe the gene networks that delineate cell fate and review the cell adhesion molecules used to guide axons and dendrites to the correct targets, and we discuss the mechanisms that cells use to migrate to their final destinations in the Drosophila visual system. We also draw comparisons between the fly and mammalian nervous systems that share common mechanisms used to guide their development. This allows us to suggest that principles emerging from the study of neuronal diversity, specification, and neural wiring in Drosophila are applicable to many systems and to most organisms.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101823118

Authors: Jennifer Malin, Claude Desplan

Institutions: New York University, New York University Abu Dhabi

Language: English

Topic: Axon Guidance and Neuronal Signaling

Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Eye Institute

Awards: G1263935185, Deciphering the mechanisms underlying multicolumnar neuron pathfinding and specification in the Drosophila melanogaster optic lobe, Understanding the regulation of neuron cell number and arbor size, Mechanisms of neural patterning and the generation of neural diversity in the brain