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Sci. STKE, 14 October 2003
Vol. 2003, Issue 204, p. tw406
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.2003.204.tw406]

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NEUROBIOLOGY Knowing When to Branch

Neuronal axons form branches to establish precise connections with their targets, but branch control is not well understood. Colavita and Tessier-Lavigne have identified a subset of neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans that require a membrane protein called BAM-2 (branching abnormal) to stop formation of branches and to stabilize their termination. Loss of BAM-2 allowed branches to overshoot their normal termination sites. BAM-2 shows sequence similarity to neurexins that are thought to control the stability of neuronal synapses.

A. Colavita, M. Tessier-Lavigne, A neurexin-related protein, BAM-2, terminates axonal branches in C. elegans. Science 302, 293 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]

Citation: Knowing When to Branch. Sci. STKE 2003, tw406 (2003).

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