Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2014 Feb;71(3):419-32. doi: 10.1007/s00018-013-1434-x. Epub 2013 Aug 6.
Axon navigation through the developing body of an embryo is a challenging and exquisitely precise process. Axonal processes within the nervous system harbor extremely complicated internal regulatory mechanisms that enable each of them to respond to environmental cues in a unique way, so that every single neuron has an exact stereotypical localization and axonal projection pattern. Receptors and adhesion molecules expressed on axonal membranes will determine their guidance properties. Axon guidance is thought to be controlled to a large extent through transcription factor codes. These codes would be responsible for the deployment of specific guidance receptors and adhesion molecules on axonal membranes to allow them to reach their targets. Although families of transcriptional regulators as well as families of guidance molecules have been conserved across evolution, their relationships seem to have developed independently. This review focuses on the midline and the neuromuscular system in both vertebrates and Drosophila in which such relationships have been particularly well studied.
轴突在胚胎体内的导航是一个具有挑战性且极其精确的过程。神经系统中的轴突过程具有极其复杂的内部调节机制，使它们能够以独特的方式对环境线索做出反应，从而使每个神经元都具有精确的定型定位和轴突投射模式。表达在轴突膜上的受体和粘附分子将决定它们的导向特性。人们认为轴突导向在很大程度上受到转录因子编码的控制。这些编码将负责在轴突膜上部署特定的导向受体和粘附分子，以允许它们到达目标。尽管转录调控因子家族以及导向分子家族在进化过程中是保守的，但它们的关系似乎是独立发展的。这篇综述重点介绍了脊椎动物和果蝇中的中线和神经肌肉系统，在这些系统中，这些关系得到了特别深入的研究。
