Assessing the role of cell-surface molecules in central synaptogenesis in the Drosophila visual system.

ABSTRACT: A hallmark of the central nervous system is its spatial and functional organization in synaptic layers. During neuronal development, axons form transient contacts with potential post-synaptic elements and establish synapses with appropriate partners at specific layers. These processes are regulated by synaptic cell-adhesion molecules. In the Drosophila visual system, R7 and R8 photoreceptor subtypes target distinct layers and form en passant pre-synaptic terminals at stereotypic loci of the axonal shaft. A leucine-rich repeat transmembrane protein, Capricious (Caps), is known to be selectively expressed in R8 axons and their recipient layer, which led to the attractive hypothesis that Caps mediates R8 synaptic specificity by homophilic adhesion. Contradicting this assumption, our results i

SUBMITTER: Berger-Muller S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3873376 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature