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First published online 5 March 2008
doi: 10.1242/dev.015867

Development 135, 1547-1557 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
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Drosophila fragile X mental retardation protein developmentally regulates activity-dependent axon pruning

Charles R. Tessier and Kendal Broadie*

Department of Biological Sciences, Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: kendal.broadie{at}vanderbilt.edu)

Accepted 4 February 2008

Fragile X Syndrome (FraX) is a broad-spectrum neurological disorder with symptoms ranging from hyperexcitability to mental retardation and autism. Loss of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (fmr1) gene product, the mRNA-binding translational regulator FMRP, causes structural over-elaboration of dendritic and axonal processes, as well as functional alterations in synaptic plasticity at maturity. It is unclear, however, whether FraX is primarily a disease of development, a disease of plasticity or both: a distinction that is vital for engineering intervention strategies. To address this crucial issue, we have used the Drosophila FraX model to investigate the developmental function of Drosophila FMRP (dFMRP). dFMRP expression and regulation of chickadee/profilin coincides with a transient window of late brain development. During this time, dFMRP is positively regulated by sensory input activity, and is required to limit axon growth and for efficient activity-dependent pruning of axon branches in the Mushroom Body learning/memory center. These results demonstrate that dFMRP has a primary role in activity-dependent neural circuit refinement during late brain development.

Key words: Fragile X Syndrome, Mental retardation, Autism, Neural development, Translation, Synaptogenesis, Synaptic pruning


Related articles in Development:

Fragile X: a developmental disease?

Development 2008 135: e806. [Full Text]  



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Cell Sci.Home page
C. R. Tessier and K. Broadie
Drosophila fragile x mental retardation protein developmentally regulates activity-dependent axon pruning
J. Cell Sci., April 15, 2008; 121(8): e807 - e807.
[Full Text]


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