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The extrinsic and intrinsic factors that regulate the size and complexity of dendritic arborizations are still poorly understood. Here we identify Fjx1, the rodent ortholog of the Drosophila planar cell polarity (PCP) protein Four-jointed (Fj), as a new inhibitory factor that regulates dendrite extension. The Drosophila gene four-jointed (fj) has been suggested to provide directional information in wing discs, but the mechanism how it acts is only poorly understood and the function of its mammalian homolog Fjx1 remains to be investigated. We analyzed the phenotype of a null mutation for mouse Fjx1. Homozygous Fjx1 mutants show an abnormal morphology of dendritic arbors in the hippocampus. In cultured hippocampal neurons from Fjx1 mutant mice, loss of Fjx1 resulted in an increase in dendrite extension and branching. Addition of Fjx1 to cultures of dissociated hippocampal neurons had the opposite effect and reduced the length of dendrites and decreased dendritic branching. Rescue experiments with cultured neurons showed that Fjx1 can act both cell-autonomously and non-autonomously. Our results identify Fjx1 as a new inhibitory factor that regulates dendrite extension.
Pubmed ID: 18028897
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Virtual microscope for viewing in situ images that show where a gene is used in an organism, sometimes down to cellular resolution. The user can examine cell-by-cell as well as tissue-by-tissue expression patterns. Users can retrieve images that meet specific search criteria, then interactively zoom and scroll across the collection. Image set contributions are welcome. The following image collections are currently available for browsing: * High-quality high-resolution images of eight-week-old male mouse sagittal brain slices with reverse-complemented mRNA hybridization probes from the Allen Brain Atlas, courtesy of the Allen Institute for Brain Science * Mouse in situ images from the Jackson Lab Gene Expression Database (GXD) at MGI * Transcription factors in mouse embryos from the Mahoney Center for Neuro-Oncology * Mouse head and brain in situ images from NCBI''''s Gene Expression Nervous System Atlas (GENSAT) database * Xenopus laevis in situ images from the National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) XDB project
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