Mitochondria are positioned at dendritic branch induction sites, a process requiring rhotekin2 and syndapin I.

Proper neuronal development, function and survival critically rely on mitochondrial functions. Yet, how developing neurons ensure spatiotemporal distribution of mitochondria during expansion of their dendritic arbor remained unclear. We demonstrate the existence of effective mitochondrial positioning and tethering mechanisms during dendritic arborization.

Monitoring regional astrocyte diversity by cell type-specific proteomic labeling in vivo.

Astrocytes exhibit regional heterogeneity in morphology, function and molecular composition to support and modulate neuronal function and signaling in a region-specific manner. To characterize regional heterogeneity of astrocytic proteomes of different brain regions we established an inducible Aldh1l1-methionyl-tRNA-synthetase (MetRS ) mouse line that allows astrocyte-specific metabolic labeling of newly synthesized proteins by azidonorleucine (ANL) in vivo and subsequent isolation of tagged proteins by click chemistry. We analyzed astrocytic proteins from four different brain regions by mass spectrometry.