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First published online May 11, 2006

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Axon guidance gets per-Plexin

During development, neurons are guided by multiple guidance molecules and their receptors, but how developing neurons integrate these different guidance cues to form neural circuits is unclear. Alex Kolodkin's team has been examining the roles of plexins – receptors for the semaphorin guidance cues–in the developing Drosophila nervous system. On p. 2125, these researchers report important new insights into how the multiple components of the semaphorin system interact by showing that the two fly plexins (PlexA and PlexB) have both distinct and overlapping functions in central and peripheral axon pathfinding. Their observation that PlexA and PlexB physically associate in vivo and can use common downstream signalling pathways provides an explanation for their overlapping functions. The researchers' discovery that PlexB is a receptor for the secreted semaphorin Sema-2a–PlexA is a receptor for the transmembrane semaphorin Sema-1a–suggests that the distinct roles of the two plexins in axon pathfinding could be mediated by interactions with different semaphorins. Together, these results reveal how complex neuronal guidance is determined at different molecular levels.

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Related articles in Development:

Drosophila Plexin B is a Sema-2a receptor required for axon guidance

Joseph C. Ayoob, Jonathan R. Terman, and Alex L. Kolodkin
Development 2006 133: 2125-2135. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?