Journal
DEVELOPMENTAL CELL
Volume 50, Issue 4, Pages 447-+Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2019.06.014
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Funding
- NIH [RO1EY018884, RO1EY023333]
- German Research Foundation (DFG) [SFB 958, SFB186]
- FU Berlin
- BMBF [031A307]
- Einstein Center for Mathematics Berlin, through the Einstein Stiftung Berlin
- MATHEON
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Following axon pathfinding, growth cones transition from stochastic filopodial exploration to the formation of a limited number of synapses. How the interplay of filopodia and synapse assembly ensures robust connectivity in the brain has remained a challenging problem. Here, we developed a new 4D analysis method for filopodial dynamics and a data-driven computational model of synapse formation for R7 photoreceptor axons in developing Drosophila brains. Our live data support a serial synapse formation model, where at any time point only 1-2 synaptogenic filopodia suppress the synaptic competence of other filopodia through competition for synaptic seeding factors. Loss of the synaptic seeding factors Syd-1 and Liprin-oc leads to a loss of this suppression, filopodial destabilization, and reduced synapse formation. The failure to form synapses can cause the destabilization and secondary retraction of axon terminals. Our model provides a filopodial winner-takes-all mechanism that ensures the formation of an appropriate number of synapses.
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