Goodman C S, Bastiani M J, Doe C Q, du Lac S, Helfand S L, Kuwada J Y, Thomas J B
Science. 1984 Sep 21;225(4668):1271-9. doi: 10.1126/science.6474176.
Insect embryos, with their relatively simple nervous systems, provide a model system with which to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying cell recognition during neuronal development. Such an approach can take advantage of the accessible cells of the grasshopper embryo and the accessible genes of Drosophila. The growth cones of identified neurons express selective affinities for specific axonal surfaces; such specificities give rise to the stereotyped patterns of selective fasciculation common to both species. These and other results suggest that early in development cell lineage and cell interactions lead to the differential expression of cell recognition molecules on the surfaces of small subsets of embryonic neurons whose axons selectively fasciculate with one another. Monoclonal antibodies reveal surface molecules in the Drosophila embryo whose expression correlates with this prediction. It should now be possible to isolate the genes encoding these potential cell recognition molecules and to test their function through the use of molecular genetic approaches in Drosophila.
昆虫胚胎具有相对简单的神经系统，为研究神经元发育过程中细胞识别的细胞和分子机制提供了一个模型系统。这种方法可以利用蝗虫胚胎中易于研究的细胞以及果蝇中易于研究的基因。已识别神经元的生长锥对特定轴突表面表现出选择性亲和力；这种特异性导致了两种物种共有的选择性成束的定型模式。这些以及其他结果表明，在发育早期，细胞谱系和细胞相互作用导致胚胎神经元小亚群表面细胞识别分子的差异表达，这些神经元的轴突彼此选择性地成束。单克隆抗体揭示了果蝇胚胎中的表面分子，其表达与这一预测相关。现在应该有可能分离出编码这些潜在细胞识别分子的基因，并通过在果蝇中使用分子遗传学方法来测试它们的功能。
