Publicly Offered Research
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
We use Drosophila somatosensory (nociceptive and mechanosensory) neurons as an experimental model because they form arrays of related neuron types that nonetheless exhibit neuron type-specific differences in dendrite arbor pattern, axonal projection, and sensory channel content. This organization has enabled us to identify and examine molecular processes that generate differences between neuron types. During all stages of dendrite arbor outgrowth there is extensive and continual remodeling. Hidden within this background is a subset of specific events critical for setting arbor structure; to identify them requires prolonged live imaging and the subsequent linking of specific cell behaviors to final pattern outcomes. We reasoned that such systematic analyses require quantification of large temporal series of neuron structure data, and we adapted recent technological advances in automation of tracing and feature detection to enable this. We carried out in vivo time-lapse imaging of Drosophila c4da differentiation with machine learning based quantification of arbor patterning, and with molecular-level tracking of cytoskeletal remodeling. Overall, our analysis revealed that Myo6 and the transcription factor Knot regulate transient surges of microtubule polymerization at dendrite tips; they drive retrograde extension of an actin filament array that specifies anterograde microtubule polymerization and guides these microtubules to subdivide the tip into multiple branches. We find this tunable branching mechanism is key to define and diversify dendrite arbor compartmentalization.
平成30年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。
All 2019 2018 2017 Other
All Int'l Joint Research (1 results) Journal Article (1 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 1 results, Peer Reviewed: 1 results) Presentation (8 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 5 results, Invited: 6 results)
Neurosci Res
Volume: 138 Pages: 70-78
10.1016/j.neures.2018.09.015
