NEUROMUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT IN DROSOPHILA - INSIGHTS FROM SINGLE NEURONS AND SINGLE GENES

How a neuron finds its synaptic target is one of the key questions of developmental neurobiology. It is a problem that must, at least in Par t, be explained in molecular terms. In light of this, several groups h ave recently examined the synapses that are made between individual mo toneurons and muscle fibers in the embryos and larvae of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The work combines the traditions of small sy stem neurobiology, which is founded on the analysis of singly identifi ed cells, with those of developmental genetics. An important insight e merging from the work is that many of the familiar features of vertebr ate synaptogenesis occur in Drosophila, where a rich array of genetic and molecular methods may be readily applied.