Disentangling Self-Avoidance

总结 树突是精细的，并且通常是高度分支的，神经元通过其接收来自树突的信息的过程。 他们的环境。树突的形态对于树突的连接和健康功能是重要的。 神经系统因此，了解控制树突形态发生的基因， 上维护树突和轴突形态学的一个关键的广泛保守的特征是它们的均匀伸展 没有重叠的地区。同一细胞的乔木之间的排斥，称为自我回避， 果蝇躯体感觉神经元中两个主要通路的控制，这是研究 树突形态发生一种途径支持树突-树突识别和排斥， 唐氏综合征细胞粘附分子1（Dscam 1）。在缺乏这一途径的情况下， 另一些则缠结在一起，使它们的感受野的一部分暴露在外，而另一部分则过度神经支配。 另一个影响树突状细胞膜是否可用于接触和识别的途径是 由细胞外基质的整合素受体介导。在没有这一途径的情况下，枝晶-基质 相互作用占主导地位，树突被附近细胞的膜包围。重要的是要 区分这两种途径，以便更好地为树突发育提供分子基础 明白然而，我们仍然对不同基因如何影响这两种途径的见解相对较少， 因此枝晶-枝晶和枝晶-衬底相互作用都不是众所周知的。因此， 这些研究为我们了解更复杂的哺乳动物系统提供了信息，但尚未完全实现。 我们将使用一种简单但功能强大的技术来测定枝晶-基底相互作用， 了解自我回避的途径。我们希望获得的见解可以告诉我们， 发展出更复杂的大脑，与自己的大脑更相似。

SUMMARY Dendrites are the fine, and often highly branched, processes through which neurons receive information from their environment. The morphologies of dendrites are important for connectivity and healthy functioning of the nervous system. Thus, it is critical to understand the genes that control dendrite morphogenesis and maintenance. One key broadly conserved feature of dendrite and axon morphology is their even spreading across territories without overlap. Repulsion between arbors of the same cell, termed self-avoidance, is under the control of two major pathways in Drosophila somatosensory neurons, a powerful model for studies of dendrite morphogenesis. One pathway supports dendrite-dendrite recognition and repulsion and is mediated by Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule 1 (Dscam1). In the absence of this pathway, dendrites cross each other and become tangled, leaving parts of their receptive field uncovered and other parts over-innervated. Another pathway that impacts whether dendritic membranes are available for contact and recognition is mediated by integrin receptors for the extracellular matrix. In the absence of this pathway, dendrite-substrate interactions predominate and dendrites become enclosed by membranes of nearby cells. It is important to discriminate between these two pathways so that the molecular basis for dendrite development can be better understood. However, we still have relatively few insights into how different genes impact these two pathways, so both dendrite-dendrite and dendrites-substrate interactions are not well known. As a result, the potential for these studies to inform our understanding of more complex mammalian systems has not been fully realized. We will use a simple but powerful technique for assaying dendrite-substrate interactions to build a clearer understanding of self-avoidance pathways. We expect that the insights gained can inform us about the development of more complex brains that are more similar to own.