Dscam2 mediates axonal tiling in the Drosophila visual system.

ABSTRACT: Sensory processing centres in both the vertebrate and the invertebrate brain are often organized into reiterated columns, thus facilitating an internal topographic representation of the external world. Cells within each column are arranged in a stereotyped fashion and form precise patterns of synaptic connections within discrete layers. These connections are largely confined to a single column, thereby preserving the spatial information from the periphery. Other neurons integrate this information by connecting to multiple columns. Restricting axons to columns is conceptually similar to tiling. Axons and dendrites of neighbouring neurons of the same class use tiling to form complete, yet non-overlapping, receptive fields. It is thought that, at the molecular level, cell-surface proteins med

SUBMITTER: Millard SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2691714 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature