@article{adb04560ef20494bb4c74cc60d97e838,
title = "A Combinatorial Semaphorin Code Instructs the Initial Steps of Sensory Circuit Assembly in the Drosophila CNS",
abstract = "Longitudinal axon fascicles within the Drosophila embryonic CNS provide connections between body segments and are required for coordinated neural signaling along the anterior-posterior axis. We show here that establishment of select CNS longitudinal tracts and formation of precise mechanosensory afferent innervation to the same CNS region are coordinately regulated by the secreted semaphorins Sema-2a and Sema-2b. Both Sema-2a and Sema-2b utilize the same neuronal receptor, plexin B (PlexB), but serve distinct guidance functions. Localized Sema-2b attraction promotes the initial assembly of a subset of CNS longitudinal projections and subsequent targeting of chordotonal sensory afferent axons to these same longitudinal connectives, whereas broader Sema-2a repulsion serves to prevent aberrant innervation. In the absence of Sema-2b or PlexB, chordotonal afferent connectivity within the CNS is severely disrupted, resulting in specific larval behavioral deficits. These results reveal that distinct semaphorin-mediated guidance functions converge at PlexB and are critical for functional neural circuit assembly.",
author = "Zhuhao Wu and Sweeney, {Lora B.} and Ayoob, {Joseph C.} and Kayam Chak and Andreone, {Benjamin J.} and Tomoko Ohyama and Rex Kerr and Liqun Luo and Marta Zlatic and Kolodkin, {Alex L.}",
note = "Funding Information: We are very grateful to K. Venken and H. Bellen for expert support with BAC transgenic techniques, B. Dickson for the Sema2b-τMyc marker line and Sema-2b cDNA construct, C. Montell for the iav-GAL4 stock, B. McCabe for the fourth chromosome GFP marker, M. Pucak and the NINDS Multi-photon Core Facility at JHMI (MH084020) for confocal imaging, and D. McClellan for her helpful comments on the manuscript. We also thank J. Cho for mapping the UAS:PlexB EcTM stock, C. Nacopoulos for assistance with fly genetics, and members of the Kolodkin, Luo, and Zlatic laboratories for their helpful discussions throughout the course of this project. We are grateful to N. Swierczek for writing the MWT software, D. Hoffmann for building the behavioral rigs and D. Olbris, R. Svirskas, and E. Trautman for their help with behavior data analysis. We also thank the Bloomington Stock Center and the Drosophila Genome Research Center for fly stocks. This work was supported by NIH R01 NS35165 to A.L.K., R01 DC005982 to L.L., and by Janelia Farm HHMI funding to M.Z. and R.K.. R.K. and M.Z. are Fellows at Janelia Farm Howard Hughes Medical Institute; A.L.K. and L.L. are Investigators of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. ",
year = "2011",
month = apr,
day = "28",
doi = "10.1016/j.neuron.2011.02.050",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "70",
pages = "281--298",
journal = "Neuron",
issn = "0896-6273",
publisher = "Cell Press",
number = "2",
}