doi: 10.1242/10.1242/dev.00598
Targeted expression of shibirets and semaphorin 1a reveals critical periods for synapse formation in the giant fiber of Drosophila
R. K. Murphey1,*,
Stephan J. Froggett1,
Phyllis Caruccio1,
Xiaoliang Shan-Crofts1,
Toshihiro Kitamoto2 and
Tanja A. Godenschwege1
1 University of Massachusetts, Department of Biology, Morrill Science Center,
Amherst, MA 01003, USA
2 Division of Neurosciences, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope,
1450 E.Duarte Road, Duarte, CA 91010, USA

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Fig. 2. Defects in the adult GF and TTMn are induced by blocking endocytosis at
various stages in development. (A) Anatomy of the GF system after various
temperature shifts when UAS-shits was driven by the A307
Gal4 enhancer. (A1) A temperature shift at 16% of pupal development followed
by regeneration and examination in the adult stage. Two specimens are
represented. In one a GF is trapped in the brain, in the thorax of another
both GFs exhibit the `overgrowth' phenotype. (A2) A temperature shift at 33%
of pupal development produced a bendless-like phenotype where the
large lateral bend is missing from both GFs in the adult. (A3) A temperature
shift at 75% of development had no detectable effect on the structure of the
GF. (A4) Both late temperature shifts and controls exhibit normal bends. This
particular specimen was never temperature shifted and illustrates the
structure of the GF in the adult stage. Scale bar: 20 µm. (B) Physiology of
the GF system. Each pair of traces is taken from a specimen temperature
shifted at the time indicated. (B1) Early temperature shifts disrupted the TTM
muscle and no recordings could be obtained. The DLM was often excited by the
GF but latencies were long and very few stimuli in a train elicit a response.
(B2) Temperature shifts during synapse formation increased the latencies and
decreased following frequency. (B3) Response latencies were increased and,
following frequency, decreased when temperature shifts occurred between
62.5-75% of pupal development. (B4) Temperature shifted at 84% had no
statistically significant effect on the physiology and this specimen
illustrates the normal physiology (see
Table 1 for quantification). In
control specimens, the latency for TTM is about 0.9 mseconds and for DLM was
1.4 mseconds; both motoneurons could follow the 100 Hz stimulus without fail.
The upper trace in each panel is taken from the TTM, the lower trace from the
DLM. In each set of traces, the individual stimulus illustrates the latency
and wave form of the response, the sweep with 10 stimuli illustrates the
response to repetitive stimuli.
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Fig. 3. The dynamics of axon retraction and regeneration. Each row represents the
results for a temperature shift initiated at the time indicated. Each column
represents the structure at a different time with respect to the temperature
shift. The left column shows examples immediately before the temperature
shift, the middle column immediately after the temperature shift and the right
column illustrates the adult CNS after the temperature shift. (A) Temperature
shift initiated at the beginning of pupariation (P0). (A1) Schematic version
of the GF at P0. The GF has not reached the target area in the early phase of
growth and the axons are very thin, making it difficult to stain and visualize
with our methods. The schematic illustrates the approximate location of the
axons at this time as well as showing the portion of the CNS represented in
all the panels (dashed box). (A2) The axons at the end of a temperature shift
that began at pupariation. Both axons have retracted into the anterior end of
the thorax and each exhibits a retraction bulb (arrow) near the terminal and a
thin retraction tail extending toward the target. (A3) Overgrowth of the axon
in the adult after regeneration at the permissive temperature. (B) Temperature
shift initiated at 33% of pupal development (Phase II). (B1) The structure of
the GF at 33% of development. Most specimens exhibited the laterally
projecting terminal illustrated by the left GF, a minority of GFs have just
begun to make the bend as seen for the right GF. (B2) Dissection at the end of
the temperature shift (50%) shows that both axon terminals have retracted into
the first thoracic neuromere and terminate in retraction bulbs (arrow). In
this specimen the dendrites of the TTMn were also visible (arrowheads)
indicating the extent of the GF retraction. The dendrites of the TTMn appeared
normal in this specimen. (B3) After regeneration, both GFs tapered to an end
in the target area and neither showed the laterally projecting terminal. (C)
Temperature shift initiated at 50% of pupal development. (C1) Both GFs
exhibited the normal lateral extension of the presynaptic terminal at 50% of
pupal development. (C2) Retraction of the presynaptic terminal immediately
after a temperature shift. Note that the presynaptic terminal has withdrawn
but the axon did not retract away from the target area. (C3) The adult
regenerated axon. In this case a large swollen region was present on the right
GF just anterior to the presynaptic terminal. (D) Temperature shift initiated
at 66% of pupal development. (D1) The GF structure at 66% of pupal development
exhibited normal lateral extensions. (D2) Immediately after a temperature
shift, there was no obvious defect. (D3) An adult specimen indistinguishable
from controls. Genotype of all specimens;
UAS-lacZ/+;A307/+;UAS-shits/+. Scale bar: 20
µm.
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Fig. 4. Interactions between shits and sema1a. Each
row illustrates the results for a different UAS-construct, driven by c17. Each
column indicates the results for a temperature shift at the indicated time.
All specimens were dissected in the adult stage. (A) Specimens expressing
UAS-sema1a alone. (A1,A2) Temperature shifts during synapse formation
caused bendless-like phenotypes. (A3) Late temperature shifts (62.5%
of pupal development) had no effect and were indistinguishable from (A4)
controls that were not temperature shifted. (B) Specimens expressing only
UAS-shits. Very few defects were observed, usually all
axons reached the target area and extended a lateral bend independent of the
temperature shift. (C) UAS-sema1a and UAS-shits
were targeted to the presynaptic GFs. (C1) When temperature shifted at 37.5%
of pupal development GFs exhibited a swollen terminal filled with vesicles in
the target area (arrow). (C2) The left GF in this example at 50% of pupal
development exhibits a swollen terminal and a retraction tail, the right GF is
dramatically swollen and filled with membrane bound vesicles (arrow). (C3)
Late temperature shifts cause some retraction and few swellings or vesicles.
(C4) Control specimen that was not temperature shifted. Scale bar in A1: 20
µm.
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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2003