Robos are required for the correct targeting of retinal ganglion cell axons in the visual pathway of the brain |
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Authors: | Plachez Céline Andrews William Liapi Anastasia Knoell Bernd Drescher Uwe Mankoo Baljinder Zhe Liu Mambetisaeva Elvira Annan Adelaide Bannister Lawrence Parnavelas John G Richards Linda J Sundaresan Vasi |
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Affiliation: | aThe University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA;bMRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King’s College London, UK;dDepartment of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK;eThe University of Queensland School of Biomedical Sciences and The Queensland Brain Institute, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia |
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Abstract: | Axonal projections from the retina to the brain are regulated by molecules including the Slit family of ligands [Thompson, H., Barker, D., Camand, O., Erskine, L., 2006a. Slits contribute to the guidance of retinal ganglion cell axons in the mammalian optic tract. Dev. Biol. 296, 476–484, Thompson, H., Camand, O., Barker, D., Erskine, L., 2006b. Slit proteins regulate distinct aspects of retinal ganglion cell axon guidance within dorsal and ventral retina. J. Neurosci. 26, 8082–8091]. However, the roles of Slit receptors in mammals, (termed Robos), have not been investigated in visual system development. Here we examined Robo1 and 2 mutant mice and found that Robos regulate the correct targeting of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons along the entire visual projection. We noted aberrant projections of RGC axons into the cerebral cortex, an area not normally targeted by RGC axons. The optic chiasm was expanded along the rostro-caudal axis (similar to Slit mutant mice, Plump, A.S., Erskine, L., Sabatier, C., Brose, K., Epstein, C.J., Goodman, C.S., Mason, C.A., Tessier-Lavigne, M., 2002. Slit1 and Slit2 cooperate to prevent premature midline crossing of retinal axons in the mouse visual system. Neuron 33, 219–232), with ectopic crossing points, and some axons projecting caudally toward the corticospinal tract. Further, we found that axons exuberantly projected into the diencephalon. These defects were more pronounced in Robo2 than Robo1 knockout animals, implicating Robo2 as the predominant Robo receptor in visual system development. |
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Keywords: | Slit Optic chiasm Axon guidance Retinal ganglion cells Diencephalon |
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