Postembryonic lineages of the Drosophila brain: I. Development of the lineage-associated fiber tracts.

Dev Biol

Department of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, 610 Charles E. Young Drive, 5009 Terasaki Life Sciences Bldg, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.

Published: December 2013

Neurons of the Drosophila central brain fall into approximately 100 paired groups, termed lineages. Each lineage is derived from a single asymmetrically-dividing neuroblast. Embryonic neuroblasts produce 1,500 primary neurons (per hemisphere) that make up the larval CNS followed by a second mitotic period in the larva that generates approximately 10,000 secondary, adult-specific neurons. Clonal analyses based on previous works using lineage-specific Gal4 drivers have established that such lineages form highly invariant morphological units. All neurons of a lineage project as one or a few axon tracts (secondary axon tracts, SATs) with characteristic trajectories, thereby representing unique hallmarks. In the neuropil, SATs assemble into larger fiber bundles (fascicles) which interconnect different neuropil compartments. We have analyzed the SATs and fascicles formed by lineages during larval, pupal, and adult stages using antibodies against membrane molecules (Neurotactin/Neuroglian) and synaptic proteins (Bruchpilot/N-Cadherin). The use of these markers allows one to identify fiber bundles of the adult brain and associate them with SATs and fascicles of the larval brain. This work lays the foundation for assigning the lineage identity of GFP-labeled MARCM clones on the basis of their close association with specific SATs and neuropil fascicles, as described in the accompanying paper (Wong et al., 2013. Postembryonic lineages of the Drosophila brain: II. Identification of lineage projection patterns based on MARCM clones. Submitted.).

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3886848PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2013.07.008DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

postembryonic lineages
8
lineages drosophila
8
drosophila brain
8
axon tracts
8
fiber bundles
8
sats fascicles
8
marcm clones
8
brain
5
sats
5
brain development
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!