Abstract

A distinctive feature of neurons is their elaborate dendritic tree. Acquiring the proper dendritic pattern is critical for neurons as type-specific dendritic morphology plays an important role in defining their synaptic partners and in supporting the specific computation performed by a given neuron. Much work has been done to identify the molecules and to elucidate the mechanisms of dendritic patterning such as growth, tilling, or branch formation. However little is known about how type-specific dendritic morphology emerges during development. Specifically how the diversity in dendritic pattern is encoded by neurons and how these distinct dendritic forms arise. Using the different classes of dendritic arborization (da) neurons of the Drosophila larva sensory system, we propose to investigate how dendritic morphology emerges dynamically and to characterize how the cell specific dendritic patterns arise during development. The study will focus on class IV neurons that exhibit self-similar, space filling arborization.