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First published online March 6, 2009
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/dev.030254

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Neurexin IV and Wrapper interactions mediate Drosophila midline glial migration and axonal ensheathment

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
² Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
³ Curriculum in Neurobiology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
⁴ Department of Biology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.

^* Authors for correspondence (e-mails: manzoor_bhat{at}med.unc.edu; steve_crews{at}unc.edu)

Accepted 4 February 2009

Glia play crucial roles in ensheathing axons, a process that requires an intricate series of glia-neuron interactions. The membrane-anchored protein Wrapper is present in Drosophila midline glia and is required for ensheathment of commissural axons. By contrast, Neurexin IV is present on the membranes of neurons and commissural axons, and is highly concentrated at their interfaces with midline glia. Analysis of Neurexin IV and wrapper mutant embryos revealed identical defects in glial migration, ensheathment and glial subdivision of the commissures. Mutant and misexpression experiments indicated that Neurexin IV membrane localization is dependent on interactions with Wrapper. Cell culture aggregation assays and biochemical experiments demonstrated the ability of Neurexin IV to promote cell adhesion by binding to Wrapper. These results show that neuronal-expressed Neurexin IV and midline glial-expressed Wrapper act as heterophilic adhesion molecules that mediate multiple cellular events involved in glia-neuron interactions.

Key words: Axon, Cell adhesion, Drosophila, Midline glia, Neurexin IV, Wrapper

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