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First published online February 20, 2009

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The long arm of axon guidance factors

Guided cell migration and postsynaptic membrane expansion (PME) are both important developmental processes, but much remains to be learned about their regulation. Now, Peter Roy and colleagues report that in C. elegans neuromuscular junction formation, during which muscle cells extend membrane processes called muscle arms towards the motor axons, several previously identified cell and axon guidance genes also direct PME (see p. 911). In a genetic screen for mutants with fewer muscle arms, the authors identified 10 genes, including unc-40/Dcc, which encodes a transmembrane receptor that guides cell and axonal migration in response to UNC-6/Netrin. They find that UNC-40 is enriched in muscle arms and directs muscle arm extension to motor axons independently of UNC-6. Among the factors that lie downstream of UNC-40, the authors report, are the guanine-nucleotide exchange factor UNC-73/Trio, members of the WAVE actin-polymerisation complex and the focal adhesion component homologue UNC-95. Together, these data suggest that many genes required for guided cell and growth cone migration have related roles in directing PME.

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Related articles in Development:

An UNC-40 pathway directs postsynaptic membrane extension in Caenorhabditis elegans

Mariam Alexander, Kevin Ka Ming Chan, Alexandra B. Byrne, Guillermo Selman, Teresa Lee, Jasmine Ono, Eric Wong, Rachel Puckrin, Scott J. Dixon, and Peter John Roy
Development 2009 136: 911-922. [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?