Post-embryonic cell lineages of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans

Characterization and cloning of fasciclin III: A glycoprotein expressed on a subset of neurons and axon pathways in Drosophila

A Drosophila Neurexin Is Required for Septate Junction and Blood-Nerve Barrier Formation and Function

Control elements of the Drosophila segmentation gene fushi tarazu

Maps of the thoracic and abdominal neuroblasts have been prepared by reconstruction from serial sections of timed Locusta migratoria embryos. The maps are bilaterally symmetrical, periodic and consistent for embryos of the same age, with a fundamental arrangementof 7 rows of 4–10 cells plus 1 median neuroblast per segment. A map of 60+1 cells isrepeated in each of the three thoracic segments, with an additional median cell developinglate at the anterior end of the prothorax. The arrangement in the abdomen is similar, with 56+ 1 cells per segment. Neuroblasts differentiate and subsequently degenerate in an anteroposteriorsequence, but construction of the thoracic ganglia involves a delayed degenerationof part of the original set in these segments. The maps show that the neuroblasts are as reliable in their number and arrangement as the adult cells they produce. The number of neuroblasts used in constructing the relatively complex thoracic ganglia is similar to that which produces the simpler abdominal ganglia. Some motorneurons have the same parent neuroblast. The maps are intended as a first step in an analysis of the relation between the progeny of different neuroblasts and the family of neurons which each neuroblast produces.

Embryogenesis of an insect nervous system. I. A map of the thoracic and abdominal neuroblasts in Locusta migratoria.

Differentiation of Drosophila neuroblasts to form ganglion-like clusters of neurons in vitro.

Cultures were prepared of embryonic cells from Drosophila melanogaster. Neurons and myocytes differentiated in vitro from their respective stem cells. Electron microscopy showed that neuromuscular junctions formed where axons contacted myocytes. Electrical stimuli were applied to axons and these caused contractions of innervated myocytes. This is the first report of insect or other invertebrate neuromuscular junctions differentiating in vitro. In addition, this is the first system reported in which the neurons, myocytes, and junctions are completely differentiated in vitro from neuroblasts and myoblasts.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/69/3/566.full.pdf

J. James Donady

Papers

Differentiation of Drosophila neuroblasts to form ganglion-like clusters of neurons in vitro.

Differentiation of Neuromuscular Junctions in Cultures of Embryonic Drosophila Cells

Factors affecting Drosophila neuron and myocyte differentiation in vitro

Drosophilia myogenesis in vitro: the genesis of "small" myocytes and myotubes.

Actinomycin D‐sensitive Periods in the Differentiation of Drosophila Neurons and Muscle Cells in vitro