Article abstract
Nature Neuroscience 11, 19 - 27 (2008)
Published online: 16 December 2007 | Corrected online: 11 January 2008 | doi:10.1038/nn2026
There is an Erratum (February 2008) associated with this Article.
MuSK controls where motor axons grow and form synapses
Natalie Kim1 & Steven J Burden1
Abstract
Motor axons approach muscles that are regionally prespecialized, as acetylcholine receptors are clustered in the central region of muscle before and independently of innervation. This muscle prepattern requires MuSK, a receptor tyrosine kinase that is essential for synapse formation. It is not known how muscle prepatterning is established, and whether motor axons recognize this prepattern. Here we show that expression of Musk is prepatterned in muscle and that early Musk expression in developing myotubes is sufficient to establish muscle prepatterning. We further show that ectopic Musk expression promotes ectopic synapse formation, indicating that muscle prepatterning normally has an instructive role in directing where synapses will form. In addition, ectopic Musk expression stimulates synapse formation in the absence of Agrin and rescues the lethality of Agrn mutant mice, demonstrating that the postsynaptic cell, and MuSK in particular, has a potent role in regulating the formation of synapses.
- Molecular Neurobiology Program, The Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University Medical School, 540 First Avenue, New York, New York 10016, USA.
Correspondence to: Steven J Burden1 e-mail: burden@saturn.med.nyu.edu
-actin (HAS; Fig. 1e)" should read "To determine whether this restricted pattern...regulatory region of the human skeletal -actin gene (HAS; Fig. 1e)". On page 25, left column, the sentence "Muscle is pre-specialized in the central, prospective synaptic region before and independently of innervation, and have led to a revised model of the steps and mechanisms that regulate neuromuscular synapse formation" should read "Muscle is pre-specialized in the central, prospective synaptic region before and independently of innervation, and these findings have led to a revised model of the steps and mechanisms that regulate neuromuscular synapse formation." Finally, on page 19, left column, the sentence "This organizational feature of neurons is essential for forming synapses on appropriate target cells and establishing functional neuronal circuits" should read "This organizational feature of neurons is critical for forming synapses on appropriate target cells and establishing functional neuronal circuits." These errors have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Synapse formation revisitedNature Neuroscience News and Views (01 Jun 2001)
Agrin signals at the junctionNature News and Views (06 Jun 1996)
See all 9 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Identification of IGFBP-6 as an effector of the tumor suppressor activity of SEMA3BOncogene Original Article
Distinct roles of nerve and muscle in postsynaptic differentiation of the neuromuscular synapseNature Article (26 Apr 2001)
See all 49 matches for Research
