Brain Development
in Drosophila melanogaster
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Edited By:Gerhard M. TechnauInstitute of Genetics University of Mainz ISBN: 978-0-387-78260-7 Published: 2008-03-18 This book may be purchased as an eBook (pdf) for $99, or individual chapters (pdf) may be purchased from the list below for $19. |
The central nervous system (CNS) represents the organ with the highest structural and functional complexity. Accordingly, uncovering the mechanisms leading to cell diversity, patterning and connectivity in the CNS is one of the major challenges in developmental biology. The developing CNS of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster is an ideal model system to study these processes. Several principle questions regarding neurogenesis (like stem cell formation, cell fate specification, axonal pathfinding) have been addressed in Drosophila by focusing on the relatively simply structured truncal parts of the nervous system. This book provides an overview of some major facets of recent research on Drosophila brain development.
Chapters available from this book
The Olfactory Sensory Map in Drosophila
Philippe P. Laissue and Leslie B. Vosshall
The fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) exhibits robust odor‑evoked behaviors in response to cues from diverse host plants and pheromonal cues from other flies. Understanding how the adult olfactory system supports the perception of these odorous chemicals and translates them into appropriate ...
Design of the Larval Chemosensory System
Reinhard F. Stocker
Given that smell and taste are vital senses for most animal species, it is not surprising that chemosensation has become a strong focus in neurobiological research. Much of what we know today about how the brain “mirrors” the chemical environment has derived from simple organisms like Drosophila. Th...
Dissection of the Embryonic Brain Using Photoactivated Gene Expression
Jonathan Minden
The Drosophila brain is generated by a complex series of morphogenetic movements. To better understand brain development and to provide a guide for experimental manipulation of brain progenitors, we created a fate map using photoactivated gene expression to mark cells originating within specific mit...
Dorsoventral Patterning of the Brain: A Comparative Approach
Rolf Urbach and Gerhard M. Technau
Development of the central nervous system (CNS) involves the transformation of a two‑dimensional epithelial sheet of uniform ectodermal cells, the neuroectoderm, into a highly complex three‑dimensional structure consisting of a huge variety of different neural cell types. Characteristic ...
Anteroposterior Regionalization of the Brain: Genetic and Comparative Aspects
Robert Lichtneckert and Heinrich Reichert
Developmental genetic analyses of embryonic CNS development in Drosophila have uncovered the role of key, high‑order developmental control genes in anteroposterior regionalization of the brain. The gene families that have been characterized include the otd/Otx and ems/Emx genes which are invol...
The Development of the Drosophila Larval Brain
Volker Hartenstein, Shana Spindler, Wayne Pereanu and Siaumin Fung
In this chapter we will start out by describing in more detail the progenitors of the nervous system, the neuroblasts and ganglion mother cells. Subsequently we will survey the generic cell types that make up the developing Drosophila brain, namely neurons, glial cells and tracheal cells. Finally, w...
Optic Lobe Development
Karl-Friedrich Fischbach and Peter Robin Hiesinger
The optic lobes comprise approximately half of the fly’s brain. In four major synaptic ganglia, or neuropils, the visual input from the compound eyes is received and processed for higher order visual functions like motion detection and color vision. A common characteristic of vertebrate and inverteb...
Development of the Drosophila Olfactory System
Veronica Rodrigues and Thomas Hummel
The olfactory system throughout the animal kingdom is characterized by a large number of highly specialized neuronal cell types. Olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) in the peripheral sensory epithelium display two main differentiation features: the selective expression of a single odorant receptor out...
Clonal Unit Architecture of the Adult Fly Brain
Kei Ito and Takeshi Awasaki
During larval neurogenesis, neuroblasts repeat asymmetric cell divisions to generate clonally related progeny. When the progeny of a single neuroblast is visualized in the larval brain, their cell bodies form a cluster and their neurites form a tight bundle. This structure persists in the adult brai...
