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Abstract
Understanding how the neuronal circuitry functions at the cellular and molecularlevels is critical for unraveling deeper insights about neurological disorders. This study
investigates how genes linked to neurodevelopmental disorders affect dendritic architecture and
characterizes tools to study synaptic organization and protein localization. In this study, Trio and
Fmr1 have been shown to affect various morphological aspects of dendrites in the aCC
motoneuron. A key challenge is the limited embryonic synapse markers, and it was addressed by
using epitope-tagged Rdl, a GABA subunit, which proved to be a reliable endogenous marker for
inhibitory synapses in embryos. Dlg, an excitatory synaptic marker, was overexpressed to mark
the postsynaptic structures. Protein localization can further the understanding of the genes and
their cellular functions, and using the split-GFP tool, we show that Nlg-4 localizes to postsynaptic
sites, and Nrx-1 is expressed in the presynaptic sites on the aCC motoneuron.
INDEX WORDS: dendrite, synapse, Nlg4, Nrx-1, neurodevelopmental disorders