Transsynaptic interactions between IgSF proteins DIP-α and Dpr10 are required for motor neuron targeting specificity.
Ashley. James J; Sorrentino. Violet V; Lobb-Rabe. Meike M; Nagarkar-Jaiswal. Sonal S; Tan. Liming L; Xu. Shuwa S; Xiao. Qi Q; Zinn. Kai K; Carrillo. Robert A RA
Key Findings
- DIP‑α is made by certain motor neurons, while Dpr10 is made by the muscles they contact.
- Removing DIP‑α or Dpr10 disrupts a specific set of nerve‑muscle connections without affecting others.
- The timing and location of Dpr10 expression match the period when those muscles are normally innervated.
Practical Outcomes
- This research reveals basic biology of nerve‑muscle wiring in fruit flies, but it does not provide any actionable health or performance advice for humans. There are no direct protocols, dosages, or interventions that can be derived from these findings for the biohacking community.
Summary
Scientists studied two proteins, DIP‑α and Dpr10, in fruit‑fly larvae and found they help motor neurons connect to the right muscles. When either protein is missing, specific nerve branches fail to form correctly.
Abstract
The <i>Drosophila</i> larval neuromuscular system provides an ideal context in which to study synaptic partner choice, because it contains a small number of pre- and postsynaptic cells connected in an invariant pattern. The discovery of interactions between two subfamilies of IgSF cell surface proteins, the Dprs and the DIPs, provided new candidates for cellular labels controlling synaptic specificity. Here we show that DIP-α is expressed by two identified motor neurons, while its binding partner Dpr10 is expressed by postsynaptic muscle targets. Removal of either DIP-α or Dpr10 results in loss of specific axonal branches and NMJs formed by one motor neuron, MNISN-1s, while other branches of the MNISN-1s axon develop normally. The temporal and spatial expression pattern of <i>dpr10</i> correlates with muscle innervation by MNISN-1s during embryonic development. We propose a model whereby DIP-α and Dpr10 on opposing synaptic partners interact with each other to generate proper motor neuron connectivity.
Study Information
pubmed
2019
2019-02-04T00:00:00.000Z
10.7554/elife.42690