title: Assembly of trigeminal sensory ganglia by chemokine signaling.
abstract: Sensory neurons with related functions form ganglia, but how these precisely positioned clusters are assembled has been unclear. Here, we use the zebrafish trigeminal sensory ganglion as a model to address this question. We find that some trigeminal sensory neurons are born at the position where the ganglion is assembled, whereas others are born at a distance and have to migrate against opposing morphogenetic movements to reach the site of ganglion assembly. Loss of Cxcr4b-mediated chemokine signaling results in the formation of mispositioned ganglia. Conversely, ectopic sources of the chemokine SDF1a can attract sensory neurons. Transplantation experiments reveal that neuron-neuron interaction and the adhesion molecules E- and N-Cadherin also contribute to ganglion assembly. These results indicate that ganglion formation depends on the interplay of birthplace, chemokine attraction, cell-cell interaction, and cadherin-mediated adhesion.
authors.affiliation: Developmental Genetics Program, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, and Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA. knaut@saturn.med.nyu.edu
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Knaut
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Blader
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Strähle
authors.forename: Alexander F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Schier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000502:physiology; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12; D018925:Chemokines / Q000502:physiology*; D019743:Chemokines, CXC / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D017950:Ganglia, Sensory / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D009025:Morpholines / Q000494:pharmacology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4 / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012668:Trigeminal Ganglion / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12; D018925:Chemokines; D019743:Chemokines, CXC; D009025:Morpholines; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4