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First published online May 30, 2007

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Brain subdivisions; the engrailed way

The developing nervous system's morphology is crucial for establishing functional circuits. The Joyner lab previously showed that engrailed 1 (En1) mouse mutants lack most of the tectum and cerebellum (Cb) and die at birth, whereas En2 mutants survive but have smaller cerebellums; the earlier expression of En1, rather than differences in protein function, account for these differences. This group now report that En proteins mediate a dosage-dependent genetic subdivision of the tectum into its two functional systems and the cerebellum into six distinct regions (see p. 2325). The posterior tectum is reduced when En1 is conditionally deleted before E9; however, two copies of En2 can sustain Cb development in these mice. A functional comparison of Drosophila engrailed, En1 and En2 indicates that En2, but not engrailed can rescue En1 mouse mutant brain defects in the absence of endogenous En2. Interestingly, En1/2 double mutants have neural phenotypes similar to those of Fgf mutants, indicating that En1/2 either maintains Fgf expression or acts downstream of it.

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Related articles in Development:

Genetic subdivision of the tectum and cerebellum into functionally related regions based on differential sensitivity to engrailed proteins

Sema K. Sgaier, Zhimin Lao, Melissa P. Villanueva, Frada Berenshteyn, Daniel Stephen, Rowena K. Turnbull, and Alexandra L. Joyner
Development 2007 134: 2325-2335. [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?