Atypical cadherin, Fat2, regulates axon terminal organization in the developing Drosophila olfactory receptor neurons.

ABSTRACT: The process of how neuronal identity confers circuit organization is intricately related to the mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration and neuropathologies. Modeling this process, the olfactory circuit builds a functionally organized topographic map, which requires widely dispersed neurons with the same identity to converge their axons into one a class-specific neuropil, a glomerulus. In this article, we identified Fat2 (also known as Kugelei) as a regulator of class-specific axon organization. In fat2 mutants, axons belonging to the highest fat2-expressing classes present with a more severe phenotype compared to axons belonging to low fat2-expressing classes. In extreme cases, mutations lead to neural degeneration. Lastly, we found that Fat2 intracellular domain inte

SUBMITTER: Vien KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11269957 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature