Assembly of trigeminal sensory ganglia by chemokine signaling.
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.
Knaut
Holger
H
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
Blader
Patrick
P
Strähle
Uwe
U
Schier
Alexander F
AF
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
D015820:Cadherins; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12; D018925:Chemokines; D019743:Chemokines, CXC; D009025:Morpholines; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4