Conserved and novel functions for Netrin in the formation of the axonal scaffold and glial sheath cells in spiders

Netrins are well known for their function as long-range chemotropic guidance cues, in particular in the ventral midline of vertebrates and invertebrates. Over the past years, publications are accumulating that support an additional short-range function for Netrins in diverse developmental processes such as axonal pathfinding and cell adhesion. We describe here the formation of the axonal scaffold in the spiders Cupiennius salei and Achaearanea tepidariorum and show that axonal tract formation seems to follow the same sequence as in insects and crustaceans in both species. First, segmental neuropiles are established which then become connected by the longitudinal fascicles. Interestingly, the commissures are established at the same time as the longitudinal tracts despite the large gap between the corresponding hemi-neuromeres which results from the lateral movement of the germband halves during spider embryogenesis. We show that Netrin has a conserved function in the ventral midline in commissural axon guidance. This function is retained by an adaptation of the expression pattern to the specific morphology of the spider embryo. Furthermore, we demonstrate a novel function of netrin in the formation of glial sheath cells that has an impact on neural precursor differentiation. Loss of Netrin function leads to the absence of glial sheath cells which in turn results in premature segregation of neural precursors and overexpression of the early motor- and interneuronal marker islet. We suggest that Netrin is required in the differentiated sheath cells for establishing and maintaining the interaction between NPGs and sheath cells. This short-range adhesive interaction ensures that the neural precursors maintain their epithelial character and remain attached to the NPGs. Both the conserved and novel functions of Netrin seem to be required for the proper formation of the axonal scaffold.     

Commissure formation in the embryonic CNS of Drosophila.

In the ventral nerve cord of Drosophila most axons are organized in a simple, ladder-like pattern. Two segmental commissures connect the hemisegments along the mediolateral and two longitudinal connectives connect individual neuromeres along the anterior-posterior axis. Cells located at the midline of the developing CNS first guide commissural growth cones toward and across the midline. In later stages, midline glial cells are required to separate anterior and posterior commissures into distinct axon bundles. To unravel the genes underlying the formation of axon pattern in the embryonic ventral nerve cord, we conducted a saturating ethylmethane sulfonate mutagenesis, screening for mutations which disrupt this process. Subsequent genetic and phenotypic analyses support a sequential model of axon pattern formation in the embryonic ventral nerve cord. Specification of midline cell lineages is brought about by the action of segment polarity genes. Five genes are necessary for the establishment of the commissures. In addition to commissureless, the netrin genes, and the netrin receptor encoded by the frazzled gene, two gene functions are required for the initial formation of commissural tracts. Over 20 genes appear to be required for correct development of the midline glial cells which are necessary for the formation of distinct segmental commissures.     

Sculpting the nervous system: glial control of neuronal development

Glial cells are not passive spectators during nervous system assembly, rather they are active participants that exert significant control over neuronal development. Well-established roles for glia in shaping the developing nervous system include providing trophic support to neurons, modulating axon pathfinding, and driving nerve fasciculation. Exciting recent studies have revealed additional ways in which glial cells also modulate neurodevelopment. Glial cells regulate the number of neurons at early developmental stages by dynamically influencing neural precursor divisions, and at later stages by promoting neuronal cell death through engulfment. Glia also participate in the fine sculpting of neuronal connections by pruning excess axonal projections, shaping dendritic spines, and secreting multiple factors that promote synapse formation and functional maturation. These recent insights provide further compelling evidence that glial cells, through their diverse cellular actions, are essential contributors to the construction of a functionally mature nervous system.     

The growth cones of identified motoneurons in embryonic zebrafish select appropriate pathways in the absence of specific cellular interactions

Developing motoneurons in zebrafish embryos follow a stereotyped sequence of axonal outgrowth and accurately project their axons to cell-specific target muscles. During axonal pathfinding, an identified motoneuron pioneers the peripheral motor pathway. Growth cones of later motoneurons interact with the pioneer via contact, coupling, and axonal fasciculation. In spite of these interactions, ablation of the pioneer motoneuron does not affect the ability of other identified motoneurons to select the pathways that lead to appropriate target muscles. We conclude that interactions between these cells during pathfinding are not required for accurate pathway selection.     

Trying to understand axonal regeneration in the CNS of fish.

In contrast to the situation in mammals and birds, neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) of fish--such as the retinal ganglion cells--are capable of regenerating their axons and restoring vision. Special properties of the glial cells and the neurons of the fish visual pathway appear to contribute to the success of axonal regeneration. The fish oligodendrocytes lack the axon growth inhibiting molecules that interfere with axonal extension in mammals. Instead, fish optic nerve oligodendrocytes support--at least in vitro--axonal elongation of fish as well as that of rat retinal axons. Moreover, the fish retinal ganglion cells re-express upon injury a set of growth-associated cell surface molecules and equip the regenerating axons throughout their path and up into their target, the tectum opticum with these molecules. This may indicate that the injured fish ganglion cells reactivate the cellular machinery necessary for axonal regrowth and pathfinding. Furthermore, the target itself provides positional marker molecules even in adult fish. These marker molecules are required to guide the regenerating axons back to their retinotopic home territory within the tectum.     

Drosophila Plexin B is a Sema-2a receptor required for axon guidance

Plexin receptors play a crucial role in the transduction of axonal guidance events elicited by semaphorin proteins. In Drosophila, Plexin A (PlexA) is a receptor for the transmembrane semaphorin semaphorin-1a (Sema-1a) and is required for motor and central nervous system (CNS) axon guidance in the developing embryonic nervous system. However, it remains unknown how PlexB functions during neural development and which ligands serve to activate this receptor. Here, we show that plexB, like plexA, is robustly expressed in the developing CNS and is required for motor and CNS axon pathfinding. PlexB and PlexA serve both distinct and shared neuronal guidance functions. We observe a physical association between these two plexin receptors in vivo and find that they can utilize common downstream signaling mechanisms. PlexB does not directly bind to the cytosolic semaphorin signaling component MICAL (molecule that interacts with CasL), but requires MICAL for certain axonal guidance functions. Ligand binding and genetic analyses demonstrate that PlexB is a receptor for the secreted semaphorin Sema-2a, suggesting that secreted and transmembrane semaphorins in Drosophila use PlexB and PlexA, respectively, for axon pathfinding during neural development. These results establish roles for PlexB in central and peripheral axon pathfinding, define a functional ligand for PlexB, and implicate common signaling events in plexin-mediated axonal guidance.     

Trying to understand axonal regeneration in the CNS of fish

In contrast to the situation in mammals and birds, neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) of fish—such as the retinal ganglion cells—are capable of regenerating their axons and restoring vision. Special properties of the glial cells and the neurons of the fish visual pathway appear to contribute to the success of axonal regeneration. The fish oligodendrocytes lack the axon growth inhibiting molecules that interfere with axonal extension in mammals. Instead, fish optic nerve oligodendrocytes support—at least in vitro—axonal elongation of fish as well as that of rat retinal axons. Moreover, the fish retinal ganglion cells re-express upon injury a set of growth associated cell surface molecules and equip the regenerating axons throughout their path and up into their target, the tectum opticum with these molecules. This may indicate that the injured fish ganglion cells reactivate the cellular machinery necessary for axonal regrowth and pathfinding. Furthermore, the target itself provides positional marker molecules even in adult fish. These marker molecules are required to guide the regenerating axons back to their retinotopic home territory within the tectum. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Development of midline cell types and commissural axon tracts requires Fgfr1 in the cerebrum

The adult cerebral hemispheres are connected to each other by specialized midline cell types and by three axonal tracts: the corpus callosum, the hippocampal commissure, and the anterior commissure. Many steps are required for these tracts to form, including early patterning and later axon pathfinding steps. Here, the requirement for FGF signaling in forming midline cell types and commissural axon tracts of the cerebral hemispheres is examined. Fgfr1, but not Fgfr3, is found to be essential for establishing all three commissural tracts. In an Fgfr1 mutant, commissural neurons are present and initially project their axons, but these fail to cross the midline that separates the hemispheres. Moreover, midline patterning defects are observed in the mutant. These defects include the loss of the septum and three specialized glial cell types, the indusium griseum glia, midline zipper glia, and glial wedge. Our findings demonstrate that FGF signaling is required for generating telencephalic midline structures, in particular septal and glial cell types and all three cerebral commissures. In addition, analysis of the Fgfr1 heterozygous mutant, in which midline patterning is normal but commissural defects still occur, suggests that at least two distinct FGF-dependent mechanisms underlie the formation of the cerebral commissures.     

The Drosophila neuregulin vein maintains glial survival during axon guidance in the CNS.

Neuron-glia interactions are necessary for the formation of the longitudinal axon trajectories in the Drosophila central nervous system. Longitudinal glial cells are required for axon guidance and fasciculation, and pioneer neurons for trophic support of the glia. Neuregulin is a neuronal molecule that controls glial survival in the vertebrate nervous system. The Drosophila protein Vein has structural similarities with Neuregulin. We show here that Vein functions like a Neuregulin to maintain glial cell survival. We present direct in vivo evidence at single-cell resolution that Vein is produced by pioneer neurons and maintains the survival of neighboring longitudinal glia. This mechanism links axon guidance to control of glial cell number and may contribute to plasticity during the establishment of normal axonal trajectories.     

Fasciculation and guidance of spinal motor axons in the absence of FGFR2 signaling

During development, fibroblast growth factors (FGF) are essential for early patterning events along the anterior-posterior axis, conferring positional identity to spinal motor neurons by activation of different Hox codes. In the periphery, signaling through one of four fibroblast growth factor receptors supports the development of the skeleton, as well as induction and maintenance of extremities. In previous studies, FGF receptor 2 (FGFR2) was found to interact with axon bound molecules involved in axon fasciculation and extension, thus rendering this receptor an interesting candidate for the promotion of proper peripheral innervation. However, while the involvement of FGFR2 in limb bud induction has been extensively studied, its role during axon elongation and formation of distinct nervous projections has not been addressed so far. We show here that motor neurons in the spinal cord express FGFR2 and other family members during the establishment of motor connections to the forelimb and axial musculature. Employing a conditional genetic approach to selectively ablate FGFR2 from motor neurons we found that the patterning of motor columns and the expression patterns of other FGF receptors and Sema3A in the motor columns of mutant embryos are not altered. In the absence of FGFR2 signaling, pathfinding of motor axons is intact, and also fasciculation, distal advancement of motor nerves and gross morphology and positioning of axonal projections are not altered. Our findings therefore show that FGFR2 is not required cell-autonomously in motor neurons during the formation of initial motor projections towards limb and axial musculature.     

labial acts to initiate neuronal fate specification, but not axon pathfinding, in the embryonic brain of Drosophila

Drosophila embryos lacking the homeotic gene labial (lab) show two types of defects in brain development: (1) cells in the brain lab domain do not express neuronal markers or extend axons, and (2) axons originating from outside the lab domain stop at this region or project ectopically. A severe disruption of neuronal patterning and axon scaffolding is the net result. It is not clear how the absence of Lab can result in both neuronal fate defects and axon pathfinding defects. I have expressed Lab in short pulses in lab loss-of- function embryos, and this gave almost complete rescue; for example, the tritocerebral commissure was restored. Rescue only occurred when Lab was provided at the time when cells in the brain are adopting a neuronal fate. Lab expression later, when the first axons are seen in the lab domain, did not give rescue. I conclude that Lab expression helps to establish neuronal identity in the lab domain, and these neurons act as a permissive substrate for axon extension. However, Lab itself is not required at the time of axon pathfinding through this region. Received: 31 May 2000 / Accepted: 5 July 2000     

Acute inactivation of MAP1b in growing sympathetic neurons destabilizes axonal microtubules

Microtubule-associated-protein 1b (MAP1b) is abundant in neurons actively extending axons. MAP1b is present on microtubules throughout growing axons, but is preferentially concentrated on microtubule polymer in the distal axon and growth cone. Although MAP1b has been implicated in axon growth and pathfinding, its specific functions are not well understood. Biochemical and transfection studies suggest that MAP1b has microtubule-stabilizing activity, but recent studies with neurons genetically deficient in MAP1b have not confirmed this. We have explored MAP1b functions in growing sympathetic neurons using an acute inactivation approach. Neurons without axons were injected with polyclonal MAP1b antibodies and then stimulated to extend axons. Injected cells were compared to controls in terms of axon growth behavior and several properties of axonal microtubules. The injected antibodies rapidly and quantitatively sequestered MAP1b in the cell body, making it unavailable to perform its normal functions. This immunodepletion of MAP1b had no statistically significant effect on axon growth, the amount of microtubule polymer in the axon, and the relative tyrosinated tubulin content of this polymer, and this was true in sympathetic neurons from rat, wild type mice, and tau knockout mice. Thus, robust axon growth can occur in the absence of MAP1b alone or both MAP1b and tau. However, immunodepletion of MAP1b significantly increased the sensitivity of microtubules in the distal axon and growth cone to nocodazole-induced depolymerization. These results indicate that MAP1b has microtubule-stabilizing activity in growing axons. This stabilizing activity may be required for some axonal functions, but it is not necessary for axon growth.     

Novel brain wiring functions for classical morphogens: a role as graded positional cues in axon guidance

During embryonic development, morphogens act as graded positional cues to dictate cell fate specification and tissue patterning. Recent findings indicate that morphogen gradients also serve to guide axonal pathfinding during development of the nervous system. These findings challenge our previous notions about morphogens and axon guidance molecules, and suggest that these proteins, rather than having sharply divergent functions, act more globally to provide graded positional information that can be interpreted by responding cells either to specify cell fate or to direct axonal pathfinding. This review presents the roles identified for members of three prominent morphogen families--the Hedgehog, Wnt and TGFbeta/BMP families--in axon guidance, and discusses potential implications for the molecular mechanisms underlying their guidance functions.     

Regulation of actomyosin contractility by PI3K in sensory axons

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) activity is known to be required for the extension of embryonic sensory axons. Inhibition of PI3K has also been shown to mediate axon retraction and growth cone collapse in response to semaphorin 3A. However, the effects of inhibiting PI3K on the neuronal cytoskeleton are not well characterized. We have previously reported that semaphorin 3A-induced axon retraction involves activation of myosin II, the formation of an intra-axonal F-actin bundle cytoskeleton, and blocks the formation of F-actin patches that serve as precursors to filopodial formation in axons. We now report that inhibition of PI3K results in activation of myosin II in axons. Inhibition of myosin II activity, or its upstream regulatory kinase RhoA-kinase, blocked axon retraction induced by inhibition of PI3K. In addition, inhibition of PI3K also induced intra-axonal F-actin bundles, which likely serve as a substratum for myosin II-based force generation during axon retraction. In axons, filopodia are formed from axonal F-actin patch precursors. Analysis of axonal F-actin patch formation in eYFP-actin expressing neurons revealed that inhibition of PI3K blocked formation of axonal F-actin patches, and thus filopodial formation. These data provide insights into the regulation of the neuronal cytoskeleton by PI3K and are consistent with the notion that decreased levels of PI3K activity mediate axon retraction and growth cone collapse in response to semaphorin 3A.     

The RNA Binding Protein Igf2bp1 Is Required for Zebrafish RGC Axon Outgrowth In Vivo

Attractive growth cone turning requires Igf2bp1-dependent local translation of β-actin mRNA in response to external cues in vitro. While in vivo studies have shown that Igf2bp1 is required for cell migration and axon terminal branching, a requirement for Igf2bp1 function during axon outgrowth has not been demonstrated. Using a timelapse assay in the zebrafish retinotectal system, we demonstrate that the β-actin 3’UTR is sufficient to target local translation of the photoconvertible fluorescent protein Kaede in growth cones of pathfinding retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in vivo. Igf2bp1 knockdown reduced RGC axonal outgrowth and tectal coverage and retinal cell survival. RGC-specific expression of a phosphomimetic Igf2bp1 reduced the density of axonal projections in the optic tract while sparing RGCs, demonstrating for the first time that Igf2bp1 is required during axon outgrowth in vivo. Therefore, regulation of local translation mediated by Igf2bp proteins may be required at all stages of axon development.     

Gliolectin-mediated carbohydrate binding at the Drosophila midline ensures the fidelity of axon pathfinding.

Gliolectin is a carbohydrate-binding protein (lectin) that mediates cell adhesion in vitro and is expressed by midline glial cells in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo. Gliolectin expression is maximal during early pathfinding of commissural axons across the midline (stages 12-13), a process that requires extensive signaling and cell-cell interactions between the midline glia and extending axons. Deletion of the gliolectin locus disrupts the formation of commissural pathways and also delays the completion of longitudinal pathfinding. The disruption in commissure formation is accompanied by reduced axon-glial contact, such that extending axons grow on other axons and form a tightly fasciculated bundle that arches over the midline. By contrast, pioneering commissural axons normally cross the midline as a distributed array of fibers that interdigitate among the midline glia, maximizing contact and, therefor, communication between axon and glia. Restoration of Gliolectin protein expression in the midline glia rescues the observed pathfinding defects of null mutants in a dose-dependent manner. Hypomorphic alleles generated by ethylmethanesulfonate mutagenesis exhibit a similar phenotype in combination with a deletion and these defects are also rescued by transgenic expression of Gliolectin protein. The observed phenotypes indicate that carbohydrate-lectin interactions at the Drosophila midline provide the necessary surface contact to capture extending axons, thereby ensuring that combinatorial codes of positive and negative growth signals are interpreted appropriately.     

Prospero maintains the mitotic potential of glial precursors enabling them to respond to neurons

During central nervous system development, glial cells need to be in the correct number and location, at the correct time, to enable axon guidance and neuropile formation. Repair of the injured or diseased central nervous system will require the manipulation of glial precursors, so that the number of glial cells is adjusted to that of neurons, enabling axonal tracts to be rebuilt, remyelinated and functional. Unfortunately, the molecular mechanisms controlling glial precursor proliferative potential are unknown. We show here that glial proliferation is regulated by interactions with axons and that the Drosophila gene prospero is required to maintain the mitotic potential of glia. During growth cone guidance, Prospero positively regulates cycE promoting cell proliferation. Neuronal Vein activates the MAPKinase signalling pathway in the glia with highest Prospero levels, coupling axon extension with glial proliferation. Later on, Prospero maintains glial precursors in an undifferentiated state by activating Notch and antagonising the p27/p21 homologue Dacapo. This enables prospero-expressing cells alone to divide further upon elimination of neurons and to adjust glial number to axons during development.     

Centrosome‐mediated microtubule remodeling during axon formation in human iPSC‐derived neurons

Axon formation critically relies on local microtubule remodeling and marks the first step in establishing neuronal polarity. However, the function of the microtubule‐organizing centrosomes during the onset of axon formation is still under debate. Here, we demonstrate that centrosomes play an essential role in controlling axon formation in human‐induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)‐derived neurons. Depleting centrioles, the core components of centrosomes, in unpolarized human neuronal stem cells results in various axon developmental defects at later stages, including immature action potential firing, mislocalization of axonal microtubule‐associated Trim46 proteins, suppressed expression of growth cone proteins, and affected growth cone morphologies. Live‐cell imaging of microtubules reveals that centriole loss impairs axonal microtubule reorganization toward the unique parallel plus‐end out microtubule bundles during early development. We propose that centrosomes mediate microtubule remodeling during early axon development in human iPSC‐derived neurons, thereby laying the foundation for further axon development and function.