QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online August 12, 2008

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?

Pioneering insights into axonal pathfinding

During nervous system development, axons navigate to their targets by responding to environmental guidance signals and by following pioneer axons. The role of this second mechanism is mainly unexplored in large vertebrate axon tracts, but Pittman and co-workers now demonstrate that interactions between zebrafish retinotectal axons play a key role in guiding axons from the retina to the tectum (see p. 2865). To study the role of axon-axon interactions in retinotectal development, the researchers selectively removed early-born retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) by knocking down ath5, a transcription factor needed for the development of these cells. Early-born RGCs, they report, are both necessary and sufficient for later axons to exit the eye. Further experiments in which transplanted axons that lack the Robo2 guidance receptor replaced the early-born RGCs indicate that axon guidance from eye to tectum also relies heavily on axon-axon interactions. Overall, the researchers conclude that axon-axon interactions and environmental guidance signals have equal and cooperative roles in axon guidance in developing vertebrate axon tracts.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in Development:

Pathfinding in a large vertebrate axon tract: isotypic interactions guide retinotectal axons at multiple choice points

Andrew J. Pittman, Mei-Yee Law, and Chi-Bin Chien
Development 2008 135: 2865-2871. [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?