Got diversity? Wiring the fly brain with Dscam

Dendrite self-avoidance is controlled by Dscam

Dendrites distinguish between sister branches and those of other cells. Self-recognition can often lead to repulsion, a process termed "self-avoidance." Here we demonstrate that dendrite self-avoidance in Drosophila da sensory neurons requires cell-recognition molecules encoded by the Dscam locus. By alternative splicing, Dscam encodes a vast number of cell-surface proteins of the immunoglobulin superfamily. We demonstrate that interactions between identical Dscam isoforms on the cell surface underlie self-recognition, while the cytoplasmic tail converts this recognition to dendrite repulsion. Sister dendrites expressing the same isoforms engage in homophilic repulsion. By contrast, Dscam diversity ensures that inappropriate repulsive interactions between dendrites sharing the same receptive field do not occur. The selectivity of Dscam-mediated cell interactions is likely to be widely important in the developing fly nervous system, where processes of cells must distinguish between self and nonself during the construction of neural circuits.

Dscam2 mediates axonal tiling in the Drosophila visual system

Sensory processing centres in both the vertebrate and the invertebrate brain are often organized into reiterated columns, thus facilitating an internal topographic representation of the external world. Cells within each column are arranged in a stereotyped fashion and form precise patterns of synaptic connections within discrete layers. These connections are largely confined to a single column, thereby preserving the spatial information from the periphery. Other neurons integrate this information by connecting to multiple columns. Restricting axons to columns is conceptually similar to tiling. Axons and dendrites of neighbouring neurons of the same class use tiling to form complete, yet non-overlapping, receptive fields. It is thought that, at the molecular level, cell-surface proteins mediate tiling through contact-dependent repulsive interactions, but proteins serving this function have not yet been identified. Here we show that the immunoglobulin superfamily member Dscam2 restricts the connections formed by L1 lamina neurons to columns in the Drosophila visual system. Our data support a model in which Dscam2 homophilic interactions mediate repulsion between neurites of L1 cells in neighbouring columns. We propose that Dscam2 is a tiling receptor for L1 neurons.

Complex alternative splicing

Alternative splicing is a powerful means of controlling gene expression and increasing protein diversity. Most genes express a limited number of mRNA isoforms, but there are several examples of genes that use alternative splicing to generate hundreds, thousands and even tens of thousands of isoforms. Collectively such genes are considered to undergo complex alternative splicing. The best example is the Drosophila Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam) gene, which can generate 38,016 isoforms by the alternative splicing of 95 variable exons. In this review, we will describe several genes that use complex alternative splicing to generate large repertoires of mRNAs and what is known about the mechanisms by which they do so.