Functional significance of a novel guidance receptor in axons and dendrites

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Takashi Suzuki
• Subject Area: Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
• Term: from 2008 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 92895564

During development, neurons send their axons to their correct targets to form a functional circuit. To reveal the key mechanism that regulates the axon pathfinding, a novel axon guidance receptor, Golden goal (Gogo) was identified in the photoreceptor (R) axon in Drosophila. We recently proposed that Gogo functions as a receptor that binds an unidentified ligand through its conserved extracellular domain (Tomasi et al., 2008). Additionally we found that gogo function in multi-dendritic neurons regulating the dendrite formation in PNS (unpublished). These observations raised two intriguing questions: 1) What is the ligand and what is the downstream signal to guide the R axons? 2) What is the gogo function in dendritic field formation and does gogo have the same molecular mechanism as in the axon guidance? To answer these questions, first we set out for identifying the cytoplasmic interactor of Gogo in R axons. We found Gogo binds to Acto-Spectrin network, and is regulated by the phosphorylation of a conserved motif in the cytoplasmic domain (unpublished). Together with these and other findings, we would like to reveal the molecular machinery of Gogo signaling. Also the similarity and difference of Gogo signaling between the axons and dendrites will be revealed. This will lead us to discover not only the novel pathway of a newly identified molecule, but also helps to reveal the entire picture of molecular machinery that steers the axon and dendrites.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants