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First published online May 16, 2007

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Enabling axonal branching

Growing axonal growth cones form actin-rich protrusions - filopodia - which extend the axon towards its target. Enabled/vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (Ena/VASP) proteins are enriched at the tips of neuronal growth cone filopodia and are required for filopodia formation. Chemically induced elimination of filopodia in the developing vertebrate visual system causes misdirected axon growth. Cecile Lebrand and colleagues now show that, in the Xenopus developing visual system, reduced Ena/VASP protein activity in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) does not affect axonal pathfinding, but does prevent the formation of branches in the optic tectum (p. 2137). Lebrand and colleagues have eliminated Ena/VASP function in Xenopus RGCs by using a sequestration strategy that mislocalises these proteins to the mitochondrial membrane. Filopodia formation is drastically reduced in these retinal growth cones. Despite this, guidance errors do not occur, but growth cones advance slowly in the optic tract. Surprisingly, these proteins therefore seem to have a role in establishing terminal arborisations rather than in pathfinding; whether this is the case in other axonal pathways and organisms remains to be tested.

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Related articles in Development:

Ena/VASP function in retinal axons is required for terminal arborization but not pathway navigation

Asha Dwivedy, Frank B. Gertler, Jeffrey Miller, Christine E. Holt, and Cecile Lebrand
Development 2007 134: 2137-2146. [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?