The navigation of axons toward their targets is a highly dynamic and precisely regulated process during nervous system development. The molecular basis of this navigation process is only partly understood. In Caenorhabditis elegans, we isolated the RNAihypersensitive strain nre-1(hd20) lin-15b(hd126), which allows us to phenocopy axon guidance defects of known genes by feeding RNAi. We used this mutant strain to systematically screen 4,577 genes on chromosomes I and III for axon guidance phenotypes. We identified 93 genes whose down-regulation led to penetrant ventral cord fasciculation defects or motoneuron commissure outgrowth defects. These genes encode various classes of proteins, ranging from secreted or putative cell surface proteins to transcription factors controlling gene expression. A majority of the genes is evolutionary conserved and previously uncharacterized. In addition, we found axon guidance functions for known genes like pry-1, a component of the Wnt-signaling pathway, and ced-1, a receptor required for the engulfment of neurons undergoing apoptosis during development. Our screen provides insights into molecular pathways operating during the generation of neuronal circuits and provides a basis for a more detailed analysis of gene networks regulating axon navigation.Wnt ͉ neuron ͉ development ͉ axon navigation D irected outgrowth of neuronal processes like axons and dendrites reflects a complex navigational problem because of the large number of neurons involved in this process. Several conserved signaling systems have been described that influence the direction of outgrowth of navigating axons (for reviews, see refs. 1-3). Despite this progress in the identification of axon guidance signals, their small number does not match the complexity of the guidance process and the large number of neurons involved. The rather limited defects in mutants of known guidance cues indicate that a substantial fraction of axon guidance genes remains to be identified.The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a suitable model for such a purpose, not only because its nervous system is simple and well described, but also because large-scale screens can be performed fast and easily. C. elegans has a comparatively small nervous system, with exactly 302 neurons in the adult hermaphrodite (4, 5). Axons and dendrites are typically unbranched and grow out in a stereotypic fashion. Because it is now possible to label neurons in vivo using fluorescent proteins like GFP (6, 7), large-scale direct visual screens for axon navigation defects have become feasible. In the last few years, RNAi in C. elegans (8) has become a powerful method to identify genes controlling particular biological processes, such as longevity, fat regulation, genome stability, RNAi, or transposon silencing (9). Unfortunately, RNAi, by feeding, does not function efficiently in the nervous system (10), effectively preventing use of this tool for the molecular analysis of axon guidance. Here we report the isolation of a strain in C. elegans that shows enhanced ...
Cadherins are one of the major families of adhesion molecules with diverse functions during embryonic development. Fat-like cadherins form an evolutionarily conserved subgroup characterized by an unusually large number of cadherin repeats in the extracellular domain. Here we describe the role of the Fat-like cadherin CDH-4 in Caenorhabditis elegans development. Cdh-4 mutants are characterized by hypodermal defects leading to incompletely penetrant embryonic or larval lethality with variable morphogenetic defects. Independently of the morphogenetic defects cdh-4 mutant animals also exhibit fasciculation defects in the ventral and dorsal cord, the major longitudinal axon tracts, as well as migration defects of the Q neuroblasts. In addition CDH-4 is essential for establishing and maintaining the attachment between the buccal cavity and the pharynx. Cdh-4 is expressed widely in most affected cells and tissues during embryogenesis suggesting that CDH-4 functions to ensure that proper cell contacts are made and maintained during development.
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