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Dendritic patterning by Dscam and synaptic partner matching in the Drosophila antennal lobe

Nature Neuroscience volume 9, pages 349–355 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

In the olfactory system of Drosophila melanogaster, axons of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) and dendrites of second-order projection neurons typically target 1 of ∼50 glomeruli. Dscam, an immunoglobulin superfamily protein, acts in ORNs to regulate axon targeting. Here we show that Dscam acts in projection neurons and local interneurons to control the elaboration of dendritic fields. The removal of Dscam selectively from projection neurons or local interneurons led to clumped dendrites and marked reduction in their dendritic field size. Overexpression of Dscam in projection neurons caused dendrites to be more diffuse during development and shifted their relative position in adulthood. Notably, the positional shift of projection neuron dendrites caused a corresponding shift of its partner ORN axons, thus maintaining the connection specificity. This observation provides evidence for a pre- and postsynaptic matching mechanism independent of precise glomerular positioning.

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Figure 1: Dscam loss-of-function phenotypes in projection neuron and local interneuron dendrites.
Figure 2: Projection neurons overexpressing Dscam elaborate more diffuse dendrites in the developing antennal lobe.
Figure 3: Dscam overexpression in Mz19+ projection neurons results in specific dendritic position shift in the adult antennal lobe.
Figure 4: MARCM overexpression of the Dscam transgene in projection neuron dendrites and its effect on ORN axons.
Figure 5: Shift of spatial position of projection neuron dendrites causes a corresponding shift of its partner ORN axons.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Buchner for antibodies; and T. Komiyama, C. Potter, B. Tasic, T. Clandinin and K. Shen for comments on the manuscript. H.Z. is a recipient of an individual Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) postdoctoral fellowship. L.L. and S.L.Z. are investigators of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This work was supported by the US National Institutes of Health (grants R01-DC005982 to L.L. and R01-DC006485 to S.L.Z.).

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Author notes

  1. Thomas Hummel

    Present address: Institut fuer Neurobiologie, Universitaet Muenster, Badestr. 9, 48149, Muenster, Germany

  2. James C Clemens

    Present address: Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA

Authors and Affiliations

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

    Haitao Zhu, Daniela Berdnik & Liqun Luo

  2. Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biological Chemistry, the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 90095, California, USA

    Thomas Hummel, James C Clemens & S Lawrence Zipursky

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  1. Haitao Zhu
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Correspondence to S Lawrence Zipursky or Liqun Luo.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

Dscam is expressed in PN dendrites prior to ORN axon arrival. (PDF 4238 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Dscam is requried in PNs for axon branching and terminal arborization. (PDF 2922 kb)

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Zhu, H., Hummel, T., Clemens, J. et al. Dendritic patterning by Dscam and synaptic partner matching in the Drosophila antennal lobe. Nat Neurosci 9, 349–355 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1652

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