Motor axon pathfinding

• Published in: Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology Vol. 2; no. 3; p. a001735
• Main Authors: Bonanomi, Dario, Pfaff, Samuel L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 01-03-2010
• Subjects: Animals; Axons - metabolism; Humans; Ligands; Models, Biological; Motor Neurons - metabolism; Mutation; Neural Crest - metabolism; Neurons - metabolism; Phenotype; Signal Transduction; Spinal Cord - metabolism
• ISSN: 1943-0264; 1943-0264
• DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a001735

Motor neurons are functionally related, but represent a diverse collection of cells that show strict preferences for specific axon pathways during embryonic development. In this article, we describe the ligands and receptors that guide motor axons as they extend toward their peripheral muscle targets. Motor neurons share similar guidance molecules with many other neuronal types, thus one challenge in the field of axon guidance has been to understand how the vast complexity of brain connections can be established with a relatively small number of factors. In the context of motor guidance, we highlight some of the temporal and spatial mechanisms used to optimize the fidelity of pathfinding and increase the functional diversity of the signaling proteins.