Helmholtz Gemeinschaft

Search
Browse
Statistics
Feeds

Patterning of muscle acetylcholine receptor gene expression in the absence of motor innervation

Item Type:Article
Title:Patterning of muscle acetylcholine receptor gene expression in the absence of motor innervation
Creators Name:Yang, X., Arber, S., William, C., Li, L., Tanabe, Y., Jessell, T.M., Birchmeier, C. and Burden, S.J.
Abstract:The patterning of skeletal muscle is thought to depend upon signals provided by motor neurons. We show that AChR gene expression and AChR clusters are concentrated in the central region of embryonic skeletal muscle in the absence of innervation. Neurally derived Agrin is dispensable for this early phase of AChR expression, but MuSK, a receptor tyrosine kinase activated by Agrin, is required to establish this AChR prepattern. The zone of AChR expression in muscle lacking motor axons is wider than normal, indicating that neural signals refine this muscle-autonomous prepattern. Neuronal Neuregulin-1, however, is not involved in this refinement process, nor indeed in synapse-specific AChR gene expression. Our results demonstrate that AChR expression is patterned in the absence of innervation, raising the possibility that similarly prepatterned muscle-derived cues restrict axon growth and initiate synapse formation.
Keywords:Afferent Neurons, Agrin, Axons, Body Patterning, Cell Surface Receptors, Cholinergic Receptors, Developmental Gene Expression Regulation, Embryonic and Fetal Development, Genetic Recombination, G-Protein-Coupled Receptors, Knockout Mice, Lysophospholipid Receptors, Motor Neurons, Muscle Denervation, Neuregulins, Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases, Synapses, Animals, Mice
Source:Neuron
ISSN:0896-6273
Publisher:Cell Press
Volume:30
Number:2
Page Range:399-410
Date:1 January 2001
Official Publication:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0896-6273(01)00287-2
PubMed:View item in PubMed

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Open Access
MDC Library