Life Sciences Commons^™

Evolutionary Conservation Of Midline Repulsion By Robo Family Receptors In Flies And Mice, Allison Loy

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

As the nervous system develops in animal embryos, neuronal axons are guided to their synaptic targets by extra cellular cues that signal through axon guidance receptors expressed on the surface of the axon. In animals with bilateral symmetry, one of the important decisions made by nearly every axon in the embryonic nervous system is whether to stay on its own side of the body, or to cross the midline and connect to cells on the opposite side. The Roundabout (Robo) family is an evolutionarily conserved group of axon guidance receptors that regulate midline crossing in a wide range of animal …