Reference Report

Reference
Citation	Chen, K., Gracheva, E.O., Yu, S.C., Sheng, Q., Richmond, J., Featherstone, D.E. (2010). Neurexin in embryonic Drosophila neuromuscular junctions. PLoS ONE 5(6): e11115. (Export to RIS)
FlyBase ID	FBrf0211087
Publication Type	Research paper
PubMed ID	20559439
PubMed Abstract	Neurexin is a synaptic cell adhesion protein critical for synapse formation and function. Mutations in neurexin and neurexin-interacting proteins have been implicated in several neurological diseases. Previous studies have described Drosophila neurexin mutant phenotypes in third instar larvae and adults. However, the expression and function of Drosophila neurexin early in synapse development, when neurexin function is thought to be most important, has not been described.We use a variety of techniques, including immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, in situ hybridization, and electrophysiology, to characterize neurexin expression and phenotypes in embryonic Drosophila neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). Our results surprisingly suggest that neurexin in embryos is present both pre and postsynaptically. Presynaptic neurexin promotes presynaptic active zone formation and neurotransmitter release, but along with postsynaptic neurexin, also suppresses formation of ectopic glutamate receptor clusters. Interestingly, we find that loss of neurexin only affects receptors containing the subunit GluRIIA.Our study extends previous results and provides important detail regarding the role of neurexin in Drosophila glutamate receptor abundance. The possibility that neurexin is present postsynaptically raises new hypotheses regarding neurexin function in synapses, and our results provide new insights into the role of neurexin in synapse development.
DOI	10.1371/journal.pone.0011115
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Language of Publication	English
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Publication Type	Journal
Abbreviation	PLoS ONE
Title	PLoS ONE
Publication Year	2006-
ISBN/ISSN	1932-6203
Data from Reference
Aberrations (1)
	Df(3R)Exel6191
Alleles (9)
	Nrx-1²⁴¹ Nrx-1³¹³ Nrx-1^{dsRNA.Scer\UAS} Nrx-1^MB00002 Nrx-1^{Scer\UAS.T:Avic\GFP} Scer\GAL4^DJ690 Scer\GAL4^elav.PLu Scer\GAL4^how-24B Scer\GAL4^tub.PU
Constructs (4)
	P{GAL4-elav.L} P{tub-GAL4.U} P{UAS-nrx.GFP} P{UAS-nrx.RNAi}
Genes (7)
	brp GluRIIA GluRIIB GluRIIC Nrx-1 Scer\GAL4 T:Avic\GFP
Insertions (3)
	Mi{ET1}Nrx-1^MB00002 P{GawB}how^24B P{GawB}l(2)DJ690^DJ690
Natural transposons (1)
	P-element