Dendritic tiling through TOR signalling

In many sensory systems, dendrites of sensory neurons cover an entire sensory field in a complete and non‐redundant manner, a phenomenon called dendritic tiling. Previous studies have identified the Tricornered (Trc) kinase as an important regulator of this process. In this issue of The EMBO Journal , Koike‐Kumagai et al (2009) found that the target of rapamycin (TOR) complex 2 (TORC2) is essential for dendritic tiling by way of regulating Trc kinase activity in Drosophila class IV dendritic arborization (da) neurons. This study provides the first in vivo evidence for a function of TORC2 activity in nervous system development.