Gene Assigns ID Tags to Help Organize the Developing Brain

Gene Assigns ID Tags to Help Organize the Developing Brain September 21, 2007 The developing nervous system is a seemingly chaotic and exceedingly complex jumble of cells with specialized missions, unique architectures, and stereotyped patterns of neuronal connections, or synapses. How neurons' dendrites and axons weave themselves into precise neural circuits during development remains a challenging question in neurobiology. What are the molecular tags on the surface of neurons that allow them to distinguish between each other? A single gene capable of producing more than 38,000 cell surface proteins is an essential tool in assuring the assembly of precise neural circuits in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Now, two teams of researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) have demonstrated how these closely related proteins establish the specificity that allows them to serve as identification tags for individual neurons. ......... ZenMaster

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