Cell recognition during neuronal development.

Insect embryos, with their relatively simple nervous systems, provide a model system with which to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying cell recognition during neuronal development. Such an approach can take advantage of the accessible cells of the grasshopper embryo and the accessible genes of Drosophila. The growth cones of identified neurons express selective affinities for specific axonal surfaces; such specificities give rise to the stereotyped patterns of selective fasciculation common to both species. These and other results suggest that early in development cell lineage and cell interactions lead to the differential expression of cell recognition molecules on the surfaces of small subsets of embryonic neurons whose axons selectively fasciculate with one another. Monoclonal antibodies reveal surface molecules in the Drosophila embryo whose expression correlates with this prediction. It should now be possible to isolate the genes encoding these potential cell recognition molecules and to test their function through the use of molecular genetic approaches in Drosophila.

[1]  N. K. Wessells,et al.  chapter 5 Regulation of the Elongating Nerve Fiber , 1980 .

[2]  C. Goodman,et al.  Embryonic development of identified neurones: differentiation from neuroblast to neurone , 1979, Nature.

[3]  S. Benzer,et al.  Neuronal development in the drosophila retina: Monoclonal antibodies as molecular probes , 1984, Cell.

[4]  G. Rubin,et al.  The effect of chromosomal position on the expression of the drosophila xanthine dehydrogenase gene , 1983, Cell.

[5]  S. Hockfield,et al.  Surface molecules identify groups of growing axons. , 1983, Science.

[6]  G. Rubin,et al.  Genetic transformation of Drosophila with transposable element vectors. , 1982, Science.

[7]  C. Bate,et al.  Embryogenesis of an insect nervous system II: a second class of neuron precursor cells and the origin of the intersegmental connectives. , 1981, Journal of embryology and experimental morphology.

[8]  R. Ho,et al.  Guidance of pioneer growth cones: filopodial contacts and coupling revealed with an antibody to Lucifer Yellow. , 1982, Developmental biology.

[9]  R. Sperry,et al.  Preferential selection of central pathways by regenerating optic fibers. , 1963, Experimental neurology.

[10]  C. Goodman,et al.  Embryonic development of identified neurons: temporal pattern of morphological and biochemical differentiation. , 1979, Science.

[11]  J. Hirsh,et al.  The cloned dopa decarboxylase gene is developmentally regulated when reintegrated into the drosophila genome , 1983, Cell.

[12]  C. Bate.  Embryogenesis of an insect nervous system. I. A map of the thoracic and abdominal neuroblasts in Locusta migratoria. , 1976, Journal of embryology and experimental morphology.

[13]  G. Stent,et al.  Cell lineage analysis by intracellular injection of a tracer enzyme. , 1978, Science.

[14]  M. Bastiani,et al.  From grasshopper to Drosophila: a common plan for neuronal development , 1984, Nature.

[15]  R. W. Davis,et al.  Yeast RNA polymerase II genes: isolation with antibody probes. , 1983, Science.

[16]  G. Rubin,et al.  Transposition of cloned P elements into Drosophila germ line chromosomes. , 1982, Science.

[17]  J. Sulston,et al.  Post-embryonic cell lineages of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. , 1977, Developmental biology.

[18]  T. Maniatis,et al.  Correct developmental expression of a cloned alcohol dehydrogenase gene transduced into the drosophila germ line , 1983, Cell.

[19]  C. Goodman,et al.  Cell determination and regulation during development of neuroblasts and neurones in grasshopper embryo , 1984, Nature.

[20]  R. Sperry.  CHEMOAFFINITY IN THE ORDERLY GROWTH OF NERVE FIBER PATTERNS AND CONNECTIONS. , 1963, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[21]  E. Kandel,et al.  Development of neurons in the abdominal ganglion of Aplysia californica. II. Nonneural support cells. , 1979, Developmental biology.

[22]  E. Macagno,et al.  Mechanism for the formation of synaptic projections in the arthropod visual system , 1978, Nature.