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Developmental neuroscience

Two gradients are better than one

Nature volume 439, pages 23–24 (2006)Cite this article

Wiring up retinal neurons to the correct brain region during development is a feat of precision growth. A novel directional cue repels retinal neuron fibres, acting as a counterbalance to a known attractive signal.

The retinotopic map was first elaborated by Roger Sperry 42 years ago3. By following point-to-point connections made as frog RGC axons regenerated between the retina and tectum, Sperry postulated that individual RGC axons must carry chemical tags that allow them to read the positional information in the tectum, also of a chemical nature. To limit the number of different tags needed to specify the connections, Sperry further proposed that the chemicals on RGC axons and in the tectum form gradients, such that the amounts of a tag could specify different positions. These ideas have been borne out spectacularly by experiment: first in the anterior–posterior axis, where gradients of a family of molecules called EphrinA in the tectum specify where RGC axons will end up4,5; and more recently in the medial–lateral axis, where gradients of EphrinB molecules organize how the RGCs are wired up6,7.

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Figure 1: Setting up the retinotopic map.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, 94305, California, USA

    Liqun Luo

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  1. Liqun Luo
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Luo, L. Two gradients are better than one. Nature 439, 23–24 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/439023a

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