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Article
Nature Neuroscience  6, 557 - 563 (2003)
Published online: 18 May 2003; | doi:10.1038/nn1063

The protocadherin Flamingo is required for axon target selection in the Drosophila visual system

Roger C Lee1, 5, Thomas R Clandinin1, 2, 5, Chi-Hon Lee1, 4, Pei-Ling Chen2, Ian A Meinertzhagen3 & S Lawrence Zipursky1

1  Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Box 951662, Los Angeles, California 90095-1662, USA.

2  Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Sherman Fairchild Science Building, 299 W. Campus Drive, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

3  Neuroscience Institute, Life Sciences Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1, Canada.

4  Present address: NICHHD/NIH, Building 18T, Rm. 106, MSC 5431, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

5  These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence should be addressed to S Lawrence Zipursky zipursky@hhmi.ucla.edu
Photoreceptor neurons (R cells) in the Drosophila visual system elaborate a precise map of visual space in the brain. The eye contains some 750 identical modules called ommatidia, each containing eight photoreceptor cells (R1−R8). Cells R1−R6 synapse in the lamina; R7 and R8 extend through the lamina and terminate in the underlying medulla. In a screen for visual behavior mutants, we identified alleles of flamingo (fmi) that disrupt the precise maps elaborated by these neurons. These mutant R1−R6 neurons select spatially inappropriate targets in the lamina. During target selection, Flamingo protein is dynamically expressed in R1−R6 growth cones. Loss of fmi function in R cells also disrupts the local pattern of synaptic terminals in the medulla, and Flamingo is transiently expressed in R8 axons as they enter the target region. We propose that Flamingo-mediated interactions between R-cell growth cones within the target field regulate target selection.

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REFERENCE
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Nature Neuroscience
ISSN: 1097-6256
EISSN: 1546-1726
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