title: Cut Your Losses: Spastin Mediates Branch-Specific Axon Loss.
abstract: In this issue of Neuron, Brill et al. (2016) demonstrate that, during synapse elimination in the developing neuromuscular junction, branch-specific microtubule destabilization results in arrested axonal transport and induces axon branch loss. This process is mediated in part by the neurodegeneration-associated, microtubule-severing protein spastin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Sciences, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Hagar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meltzer
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Sciences, Rehovot 7610001, Israel. Electronic address: oren.schuldiner@weizmann.ac.il.
authors.forename: Oren
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schuldiner
mesh_terms: D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D001370:Axonal Transport; D001369:Axons; D008870:Microtubules; D013569:Synapses
chemical_list: D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases