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Science 25 January 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5555, pp. 686 - 690
DOI: 10.1126/science.1066642
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Reports

Immunoglobulin-Domain Proteins Required for Maintenance of Ventral Nerve Cord Organization

Oscar Aurelio,1 David H. Hall,2 Oliver Hobert1*

During development, neurons extend axons along defined routes to specific target cells. We show that additional mechanisms ensure that axons maintain their correct positioning in defined axonal tracts. After termination of axonal outgrowth and target recognition, axons in the ventral nerve cord (VNC) of Caenorhabditis elegans require the presence of a specific VNC neuron, PVT, to maintain their correct positioning in the left and right fascicles of the VNC. PVT may exert its stabilizing function by the temporally tightly controlled secretion of 2-immunoglobulin (Ig)-domain proteins encoded by the zig genes. Dedicated axon maintenance mechanisms may be widely used to ensure the preservation of functional neuronal circuitries.

1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA.
2 Center for C. elegans Anatomy, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Department of Neuroscience, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: or38{at}columbia.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)