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Farber Institute for Neuroscience Faculty Papers

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Synlight: A Bicistronic Strategy For Simultaneous Active Zone And Cell Labeling In The Drosophila Nervous System, Michael A. Aimino, Jesse Humenik, Michael J. Parisi, Juan Carlos Duhart, Timothy J. Mosca Sep 2023

Synlight: A Bicistronic Strategy For Simultaneous Active Zone And Cell Labeling In The Drosophila Nervous System, Michael A. Aimino, Jesse Humenik, Michael J. Parisi, Juan Carlos Duhart, Timothy J. Mosca

Farber Institute for Neuroscience Faculty Papers

At synapses, chemical neurotransmission mediates the exchange of information between neurons, leading to complex movement, behaviors, and stimulus processing. The immense number and variety of neurons within the nervous system make discerning individual neuron populations difficult, necessitating the development of advanced neuronal labeling techniques. In Drosophila, Bruchpilot-Short and mCD8-GFP, which label presynaptic active zones and neuronal membranes, respectively, have been widely used to study synapse development and organization. This labeling is often achieved via the expression of 2 independent constructs by a single binary expression system, but expression can weaken when multiple transgenes are expressed by a single driver. Recent …


Synaptic Development In Diverse Olfactory Neuron Classes Uses Distinct Temporal And Activity-Related Programs, Michael A. Aimino, Alison T. Depew, Lucas Restrepo, Timothy J. Mosca Nov 2022

Synaptic Development In Diverse Olfactory Neuron Classes Uses Distinct Temporal And Activity-Related Programs, Michael A. Aimino, Alison T. Depew, Lucas Restrepo, Timothy J. Mosca

Farber Institute for Neuroscience Faculty Papers

Developing neurons must meet core molecular, cellular, and temporal requirements to ensure the correct formation of synapses, resulting in functional circuits. However, because of the vast diversity in neuronal class and function, it is unclear whether or not all neurons use the same organizational mechanisms to form synaptic connections and achieve functional and morphologic maturation. Moreover, it remains unknown whether neurons united in a common goal and comprising the same sensory circuit develop on similar timescales and use identical molecular approaches to ensure the formation of the correct number of synapses. To begin to answer these questions, we took advantage …


Γ-Secretase Promotes Drosophila Postsynaptic Development Through The Cleavage Of A Wnt Receptor, Lucas J Restrepo, Alison T Depew, Elizabeth R Moese, Stephen R Tymanskyj, Michael J Parisi, Michael A Aimino, Juan Carlos Duhart, Hong Fei, Timothy J Mosca Jul 2022

Γ-Secretase Promotes Drosophila Postsynaptic Development Through The Cleavage Of A Wnt Receptor, Lucas J Restrepo, Alison T Depew, Elizabeth R Moese, Stephen R Tymanskyj, Michael J Parisi, Michael A Aimino, Juan Carlos Duhart, Hong Fei, Timothy J Mosca

Farber Institute for Neuroscience Faculty Papers

Developing synapses mature through the recruitment of specific proteins that stabilize presynaptic and postsynaptic structure and function. Wnt ligands signaling via Frizzled (Fz) receptors play many crucial roles in neuronal and synaptic development, but whether and how Wnt and Fz influence synaptic maturation is incompletely understood. Here, we show that Fz2 receptor cleavage via the γ-secretase complex is required for postsynaptic development and maturation. In the absence of γ-secretase, Drosophila neuromuscular synapses fail to recruit postsynaptic scaffolding and cytoskeletal proteins, leading to behavioral deficits. Introducing presenilin mutations linked to familial early-onset Alzheimer's disease into flies leads to synaptic maturation phenotypes …