Axons Compete for Neuromuscular Junctions 英文参考文献.docVIP

Synopsis AxonsCompeteforNeuromuscularJunctions RichardRobinson* FreelanceScienceWriter,Sherborn,Massachusetts,UnitedStatesofAmerica Duringdevelopment,motorneuronsin thespinalcordsendoutaxonstoconnect with muscle. Each axon creates a profu- sionofbranches,eachwiththepotentialto innervate the muscle fiber at its neuro- muscular junction (NMJ). There are so many excess branches that in the imma- tureanimal,axonterminalsfrommultiple neuronscrowdeachjunction.Butinshort order,theexcessisparedaway,andeach NMJ is left with only one terminal, promoting efficient and fine-tuned com- municationbetweenmuscleandbrain. Three mutually exclusive mechanisms have been proposed as drivers of that pruningprocess:1)randomremovalofall but one terminal, 2) predetermined re- moval based on factors intrinsic to the neuron and muscle, and 3) competition amongterminals,withthevictorstrength- ening its connection while the losers retract. In this issue of PLoS Biology, Stephen Turney and Jeff Lichtman use in vivo imaging to show that axons compete for access to the NMJ, and that would-bewinnersthattemporarilyvacate their territory can quickly lose out to otherswaitingtotaketheirplace. whose terminals occupy the largest frac- tion of the NMJ at this stage usually remains in control, while those that occupylesseventuallywithdraw. mostly innervated. Instead, they argue that the regrowth is likely triggered from ahighlylocalsignalfromtheunoccupied portion of the junction and picked up by nearby axonalbranches,whichgrowinto theunoccupiedportion.Insupportofthis mechanism,theyshowedthatmicroscopic ablation of only some of an axon’s terminalsatasingleNMJledtoresprout- ing and regrowth of that axon to fill the unoccupiedportionsoftheNMJ. Totesttheloser’sabilitytoreinnervate atthisstage,theyusedalasertoablatethe dominantaxon’sinnervatingbranch,lead- ing the terminal to fragment and quickly disappear.Evenwhentheremainingaxon initiallyoccupiedlessthan5%oftheNMJ, within 24hours it had exte