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Volume 16, Number 18, Issue of September 15, 1996 pp. 5715-5726
Copyright ©1996 Society for Neuroscience

Laser Ablation of Drosophila Embryonic Motoneurons Causes Ectopic Innervation of Target Muscle Fibers

Received May 14, 1996; revised June 21, 1996; accepted June 25, 1996.

Te Ning Chang² and Haig Keshishian¹

¹ Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, and ² Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8103

We have tested the effects of neuromuscular denervation in Drosophila by laser-ablating the RP motoneurons in intact embryos before synaptogenesis. We examined the consequences of this ablation on local synaptic connectivity in both 1st and 3rd instar larvae. We find that the partial or complete loss of native innervation correlates with the appearance of alternate inputs from neighboring motor endings and axons. These collateral inputs are found at ectopic sites on the denervated target muscle fibers. The foreign motor endings are electrophysiologically functional and are observed on the denervated muscle fibers by the 1st instar larval stage. Our data are consistent with the existence of a local signal from the target environment, which is regulated by innervation and influences synaptic connectivity. Our results show that, despite the stereotypy of Drosophila neuromuscular connections, denervation can induce local changes in connectivity in wild-type Drosophila, suggesting that mechanisms of synaptic plasticity may also be involved in normal Drosophila neuromuscular development.

Key words: Drosophila; neuromuscular junction; motoneuron; plasticity; sprouting; collateral innervation; denervation; synaptogenesis; connectivity; muscle atrophy

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