Faculty Opinions recommendation of Homophilic Protocadherin Cell-Cell Interactions Promote Dendrite Complexity.
Year: 2018
Type: peer-review
Abstract: Growth of a properly complex dendrite arbor is a key step in neuronal differentiation and a prerequisite for neural circuit formation.Diverse cell surface molecules, such as the clustered protocadherins (Pcdhs), have long been proposed to regulate circuit formation through specific cell-cell interactions.Here, using transgenic and conditional knockout mice to manipulate γ-Pcdh repertoire in the cerebral cortex, we show that the complexity of a neuron's dendritic arbor is determined by homophilic interactions with other cells.Neurons expressing only one of the 22 γ-Pcdhs can exhibit either exuberant, or minimal, dendrite complexity depending only on whether surrounding cells express the same isoform.Furthermore, loss of astrocytic γ-Pcdhs, or disruption of astrocyte-neuron homophilic matching, reduces dendrite complexity cell non-autonomously.Our data indicate that γ-Pcdhs act locally to promote dendrite arborization via homophilic matching and confirm that connectivity in vivo depends on molecular interactions between neurons, and between neurons and astrocytes.
Authors: Stephanie Gupton, Shalini Menon
Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G3611876890, G5520316217, G9000127590
OpenAlex ID: W4230981979