Is required for axonal outgrowth, guidance, branching and fasciculation in invertebrates and vertebrates

Copyright information:Taken from "The short coiled-coil domain-containing protein UNC-69 cooperates with UNC-76 to regulate axonal outgrowth and normal presynaptic organization in "Journal of Biology 2006;5(4):9-9.Published online 25 May 2006PMCID:PMC1561584. Defect in the migration of the HSN neuron in mutant animals. (a) In wild-type animals, the HSN axons (HSNL and HSNR) migrate ventrally until they reach the VNC, which they join and follow rostrally towards the head (arrow in (a)). (b) In mutants, HSN axons occasionally fail to grow ventrally and instead project laterally along the body wall (arrow in (b)). Animals were stained with anti-serotonin antibodies to visualize the HSN neurons. Arrowheads indicate the vulva. Dotted lines mark the ventral margin of the body walls. Commissures of D-type GABAergic neurons routinely reach the DNC in wild-type animals (c), but often fail in animals (d) and prematurely bifurcate (arrow). D-type GABAergic neurons were visualized with the transgene . Asterisk in (d) marks a gap in the DNC. There are also often ectopic sprouts from the commissures (arrowheads in (d)) in mutants. Images of the single ALM touch neuron in (e) wild-type and (f) animals. Many ectopic neurites branched out from the soma and the axonal shaft of the ALM neuron in mutant (arrowheads). Tracings of representative electron micrographs of sections through the DNC and VNC. (g) In the wild type, the position and content of the three major fascicles are highly stereotyped (black arrows). (h) In mutants, defasciculated axons can often be found migrating separately along the body wall (open arrows). Morphology of the bipolar AWC sensory neuron in (i) wild-type and (j) animals. Dendrites of AWC neurons in both animals reach the nose (arrows). Axonal shape is normal in wild-type worms, but abnormal in mutants, with ectopic bulges occasionally extending from the soma (arrowhead in (j)). Expression pattern of in stage 26 chick embryos. Sections were incubated with (k) antisense and (l) sense RNA probes for chick . was highly expressed in neural tissue and was most prominent in DRGs and in motoneurons of both the lateral motor column (LMC) and the medial motor column (MMC). Expression in the notochord (NC) and dermamyotome (DMT) was less pronounced. RNAi of chick . Embryos injected and electroporated with double-stranded RNA corresponding to (m) a -containing plasmid or (n) chick were immunostained with anti-neurofilament antibodies. (m) In control embryos,