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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 12, 2006, 26(15):3999-4003; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3845-05.2006

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Brief Communications
Semaphorin-1a Functions as a Guidance Receptor in the Drosophila Visual System

Patrick Cafferty, * Li Yu, * Hong Long, and Yong Rao

McGill Centre for Research in Neuroscience and Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1A4, Canada

Correspondence should be addressed to Yong Rao, Centre for Research in Neuroscience, The Montreal General Hospital Research Institute, Room L7-136, 1650 Cedar Avenue, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1A4, Canada. Email: yong.rao{at}mcgill.ca

The evolutionarily conserved Semaphorin family proteins are well known axon guidance ligands that mediate both attractive and repulsive responses in invertebrates and vertebrates. In this study, we show that the Drosophila Semaphorin-1a (Sema1a), a transmembrane Semaphorin, is required cell autonomously in adult photoreceptor (R-cell) axons for the establishment of an appropriate topographic termination pattern in the optic lobe. Loss of sema1a disrupts the association of neighboring R-cell growth cones leading to defects in local termination pattern, whereas overexpression of sema1a induces the hyper-fasciculation of R-cell axons. The function of Sema1a in R-cell axon guidance absolutely requires its cytoplasmic domain. We propose that Sema1a functions as a receptor in regulating R-cell axon guidance in the Drosophila visual system.

Key words: Semaphorin-1a; axon guidance; axon guidance receptor; Drosophila visual system; neuronal connectivity; semaphorin

Received Sept. 11, 2005; revised Jan. 6, 2006; accepted Feb. 7, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Yong Rao, Centre for Research in Neuroscience, The Montreal General Hospital Research Institute, Room L7-136, 1650 Cedar Avenue, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1A4, Canada. Email: yong.rao{at}mcgill.ca




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F. Moret, C. Renaudot, M. Bozon, and V. Castellani
Semaphorin and neuropilin co-expression in motoneurons sets axon sensitivity to environmental semaphorin sources during motor axon pathfinding
Development, December 15, 2007; 134(24): 4491 - 4501.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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