The Journal of Neuroscience, May 16, 2007, 27(20):5271-5279; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0883-07.2007
Previous Article | Next Article 
Cellular/Molecular
Genetic Single-Cell Mosaic Analysis Implicates ephrinB2 Reverse Signaling in Projections from the Posterior Tectum to the Hindbrain in Zebrafish
Tomomi Sato,1
Takanori Hamaoka,1
Hidenori Aizawa,1
Toshihiko Hosoya,2 and
Hitoshi Okamoto1
1Laboratory for Developmental Gene Regulation and 2Hosoya Research Unit, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
Correspondence should be addressed to Hitoshi Okamoto, Laboratory for Developmental Gene Regulation, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan. Email: hitoshi{at}brain.riken.jp
The optic tectum is a visual center in vertebrates. It receives topographically ordered visual inputs from the retina in the superficial layers and then sends motor outputs from the deeper layers to the premotor reticulospinal system in the hindbrain. Although the topographic patterns of the retinotectal projection are well known, it is not yet well understood how tectal efferents in the tectobulbar tract project to the hindbrain. The retinotectal and the tectobulbar projections were visualized in a zebrafish stable transgenic line Tg(brn3a-hsp70:GFP). Using a single-neuron labeling system in combination with the cre/loxP and Gal4/UAS systems, we showed that the tectal neurons that projected to rhombomeres 2 and 6 were distributed with distinctive patterns along the anteriorposterior axis. Furthermore, we found that ephrinB2a was critically involved in increasing the probability of neurons projecting to rhombomere 2 through a reverse signaling mechanism. These results may provide a neuroanatomical and molecular basis for the motor command map in the tectum.
Key words: zebrafish; tectobulbar projection; Cre/loxP; Gal4/UAS; ephrinB; reverse signaling
Received Sept. 1, 2006;
revised April 9, 2007;
accepted April 9, 2007.
Correspondence should be addressed to Hitoshi Okamoto, Laboratory for Developmental Gene Regulation, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan. Email: hitoshi{at}brain.riken.jp
Related articles in J. Neurosci.:
- This Week in The Journal
J. Neurosci. 2007 27: i.
[Full Text]
This article has been cited by other articles:

|
 |

|
 |
 
S. P. Herbert, J. Huisken, T. N. Kim, M. E. Feldman, B. T. Houseman, R. A. Wang, K. M. Shokat, and D. Y. R. Stainier
Arterial-Venous Segregation by Selective Cell Sprouting: An Alternative Mode of Blood Vessel Formation
Science,
October 9, 2009;
326(5950):
294 - 298.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|