Journal
NEURON
Volume 81, Issue 5, Pages 1040-1056Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.01.009
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Health Institutes (NIH) [NS062047, EY022073]
- Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale
- French State program Investissements d'Avenir [ANR-10-LABX-65]
- Wright Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Dendrites from the same neuron usually develop nonoverlapping patterns by self-avoidance, a process requiring contact-dependent recognition and repulsion. Recent studies have implicated homophilic interactions of cell surface molecules, including Dscams and Pcdhgs, in self-recognition, but repulsive molecular mechanisms remain obscure. Here, we report a role for the secreted molecule Slit2 and its receptor Robo2 in self-avoidance of cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs). Both molecules are highly expressed by PCs, and their deletion leads to excessive dendrite self-crossing without affecting arbor size and shape. This cell-autonomous function is supported by the boundary-establishing activity of Slit in culture and the phenotype rescue by membrane-associated Slit2 activities. Furthermore, genetic studies show that they act independently from Pcdhg-mediated recognition. Finally, PC-specific deletion of Robo2 is associated with motor behavior alterations. Thus, our study uncovers a local repulsive mechanism required for self-avoidance and demonstrates the molecular complexity at the cell surface in dendritic patterning.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available