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First published online November 7, 2008

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Crossing the midline: what a Dscam!

During central nervous system (CNS) development, attractive and repulsive signals guide growing axons to their targets, with many axons having to cross the CNS midline to establish proper connections. Proteins of the Netrin family provide an attractive signal to neurons at the midline, which is relayed by Frazzled/DCC receptors. Now, Thomas Kidd and colleagues report that the Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam), previously described as functioning in neurite repulsion and implicated in the neurological aspects of Down syndrome, also guides axons in response to Netrin (see p. 3839). The authors show that Netrin and Dscam mutant Drosophila larvae have similar axon guidance defects in their photoreceptor organs, and that Dscam and Netrin physically interact in vitro. By using knockout and overexpression approaches, they demonstrate that Dscam promotes axon midline crossing and acts in parallel to Frazzled/DCC, probably by responding to ligands other than Netrin. From their findings, the authors propose that Dscam transduces several different axonal guidance cues, most likely by associating with co-receptors.

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Dscam guides embryonic axons by Netrin-dependent and -independent functions

Gracie L. Andrews, Shawna Tanglao, W. Todd Farmer, Steves Morin, Steven Brotman, Michael A. Berberoglu, Hilary Price, George C. Fernandez, Grant S. Mastick, Frédéric Charron, and Thomas Kidd
Development 2008 135: 3839-3848. [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?