title: Embryonic axon guidance: insights from Drosophila and other insects.
abstract: During embryonic development, growing axons are guided by cellular signaling pathways that control a series of individual axon guidance decisions. In Drosophila, two major pathways (Netrin-Frazzled/DCC and Slit-Robo) regulate axon guidance in the embryonic ventral nerve cord, including the critical decision of whether or not to cross the midline. Studies in the fruit fly have revealed a complex picture of precise regulation and cross-talk between these pathways. In addition, Robo receptors in Drosophila have diversified their activities to regulate additional axon guidance decisions in the developing embryo. Here, I discuss recent advances in understanding roles and regulation of the Net-Fra and Slit-Robo signaling pathways in Drosophila, and examine the evolutionary conservation of these signaling mechanisms across insects and other arthropods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, United States. Electronic address: evanst@uark.edu.
authors.forename: Timothy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000071437:Axon Guidance / Q000502:physiology; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D007313:Insecta / Q000196:embryology*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D000075386:Netrin Receptors / Q000378:metabolism; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000378:metabolism; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D000097905:Roundabout Proteins
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D000075386:Netrin Receptors; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D000097905:Roundabout Proteins; C000617310:fra protein, Drosophila; C417033:net protein, Drosophila; C066819:sli protein, Drosophila