The midline protein regulates axon guidance by blocking the reiteration of neuroblast rows within the Drosophila ventral nerve cord.

ABSTRACT: Guiding axon growth cones towards their targets is a fundamental process that occurs in a developing nervous system. Several major signaling systems are involved in axon-guidance, and disruption of these systems causes axon-guidance defects. However, the specific role of the environment in which axons navigate in regulating axon-guidance has not been examined in detail. In Drosophila, the ventral nerve cord is divided into segments, and half-segments and the precursor neuroblasts are formed in rows and columns in individual half-segments. The row-wise expression of segment-polarity genes within the neuroectoderm provides the initial row-wise identity to neuroblasts. Here, we show that in embryos mutant for the gene midline, which encodes a T-box DNA binding protein, row-2 neuroblasts and t

SUBMITTER: Manavalan MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3873230 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature