Abstract
Coordinated development of neurons and glia is essential for the establishment of neuronal circuits during embryonic development. In the developing Drosophila visual system, photoreceptor (R cell) axons and wrapping glial (WG) membrane extend from the eye disc through the optic stalk into the optic lobe. Extensive studies have identified a number of genes that control the establishment of R-cell axonal projection pattern in the optic lobe. The molecular mechanisms directing the exit of R-cell axons and WG membrane from the eye disc, however, remain unknown. In this study, we show that integrins are required in R cells for the extension of R-cell axons and WG membrane from the eye disc into the optic stalk. Knockdown of integrins in R cells but not WG caused the stalling of both R-cell axons and WG membrane in the eye disc. Interfering with the function of Rhea (i.e. the Drosophila ortholog of vertebrate talin and a key player of integrin-mediated adhesion), caused an identical stalling phenotype. These results support a key role for integrins on R-cell axons in directing R-cell axons and WG membrane to exit the eye disc.
Highlights
The formation of neural networks during embryonic development requires proper neuron-glia interactions
Knockdown of mys in both eye‐disc epithelium and Wrapping glia (WG) prevented the exit of R‐cell axons and WG membrane from the eye disc In our previous study [16], we performed a RNA interference (RNAi) screen to search for cell-surface receptors and secreted factors that regulate the coordinated development of R cells and WG in the developing Drosophila visual system
We found that when a UASRNAi transgene (i.e. UAS-mys-RNAi-HMS00043) was expressed in both WG and eye-disc epithelium consisting of differentiating R cells and accessory cells, R-cell axons and WG membrane stalled in the eye disc [16]
Summary
The formation of neural networks during embryonic development requires proper neuron-glia interactions. The establishment of photoreceptor neuron (R cell) to optic lobe connections in the Drosophila adult visual system is an excellent model for understanding the mechanisms controlling the coordinated development of neuron and glia for the establishment of neuronal connections. R-cell differentiation in the eye-imaginal disc begins at the third-instar larval stage, and progresses in Wrapping glia (WG), a subtype of sub-retinal glia, play an important role in the establishment of retinotopic map [6, 7]. At the third-instar larval stage, PG migrate from the optic stalk into the sub-retinal region of the eye disc [8]. R-cell axons are temporally enwrapped by WG membrane, which extends from the eye disc through the optic stalk into the distal region of the lamina [6, 10, 11].
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