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Krasnow Institute > Monday Seminars > Abstracts Molecular Mechanisms Governing Daniel N. Cox Department of Molecular and Microbiology and
Dendrites function as the primary sites of synaptic and/or sensory input and integration in the developing nervous system, thus, elucidating the molecular mechanisms governing dendrite morphogenesis is critical to our understanding of how diverse cell-type specific dendritic morphologies arise and further, how these morphologies may be affected in such biologically relevant events as sensory perception, learning and memory, aging, addiction, and a broad range of nervous system disease pathologies, including Alzheimer’s disease and mental retardation. Class-specific dendrite arborization patterns serve as a hallmark of neuronal type and moreover, it is this stereotypic branching pattern that defines a neuron’s receptive field determining both the number and type of synaptic or sensory inputs that neuron is capable of receiving and responding to making dendritic field specification of critical importance to the formation of functional neural networks. While our broad understanding of dendrite arborization and dynamics has made substantial progress in recent years, the molecular, cellular, and regulatory mechanisms governing the acquisition of class-specific dendritic morphologies in vivo remain largely unknown. Our research is focused on identifying these mechanisms via a combined genetic, biochemical and transcriptome expression profiling approach using the Drosophila melanogaster peripheral nervous system as a model.
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