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BOC, brother of CDO, is a dorsoventral axon‐guidance molecule in the embryonic vertebrate brain
Author(s) -
Connor Robin M.,
Allen Chelsea L.,
Devine Christine A.,
Claxton Christina,
Key Brian
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.20503
Subject(s) - biology , zebrafish , axon guidance , floor plate , axon , vertebrate , neuroscience , anatomy , neural tube , commissure , embryonic stem cell , neural development , cerebrum , central nervous system , embryo , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene
The early axon scaffolding in the embryonic vertebrate brain consists of a series of ventrally projecting axon tracts that grow into a single major longitudinal pathway connected across the midline by commissures. We have investigated the role of Brother of CDO (BOC), an immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily member distantly related to the Roundabout (Robo) family of axon‐guidance receptors, in the development of this embryonic template of axon tracts in the zebrafish brain. A zebrafish homologue of BOC was isolated and shown to be expressed predominantly in the developing neural plate and later in the neural tube and developing brain. Zebrafish boc was initially highly localized to discrete bands in the mid‐ and hindbrain, but, as the major brain subdivisions emerged, it became more evenly expressed along the rostrocaudal axis, particularly in dorsal regions. The function of zebrafish boc was examined by a loss‐of‐function approach. Analysis of embryos injected with antisense morpholinos designed against boc revealed highly selective defects in the development of dorsoventrally projecting axon tracts. Loss of boc caused ventrally projecting axons, particularly those arising from the presumptive telencephalon, to follow aberrant trajectories. These data indicate that boc is an axon‐guidance molecule playing a fundamental role in pathfinding during the early patterning of the axon scaffold in the embryonic vertebrate brain. J. Comp. Neurol. 485:32–42, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.