Molecular and Cellular Approaches to Neural Development

by Cowan, W. Maxwell; Jessell, Thomas M.; Zipursky, S. Lawrence

• ISBN13: 9780195111668
• ISBN10: 0195111664
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-01-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Comprehensive, up-to-date and authoritative, this volume covers all the recent advances in understanding the early events of neural development at the molecular and cellular levels. The authors detail the applications of molecular genetic methods to the study of neural induction, neuronalphenotypes and processes, and the formation of specific patterns of connections. They analyze the new information generated through modern techniques for identifying, cloning, deleting and introducing specific genes, for labeling neuronal or glial precursors, and for imaging individual neurons orparts of neurons. Other chapters focus on the increasing use of a variety of model organisms: fruit flies, nematode worms, zebra fish, xenopus frogs, chicks, and mice. The improved conservation of DNA and protein sequences, and the availability of gene and protein databases have made it possible to rapidly identifygene homologues in organisms sometimes separated by hundreds of millions of years of evolution. This volume features several chapters co-authored by investigators one of whom works on vertebrates and the other on invertebrates. They demonstrate clearly that although the nervous systems of a fruitfly and a mouse, for example, are quite different in appearance and organization, many of the same molecular players and cellular processes are involved in their assembly. Molecular and Cellular Approaches to Neural Development will be of great practical interest to researchers, graduate studentsand post-doctoral fellows in developmental, cell and molecular biology, genetics, and neuroscience.

Author Biography

W. Maxwell Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., is Vice-President and Chief Scientific Officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Thomas M. Jessell, Ph.D., is a Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University, New York.
S. Lawrence Zipursky, Ph.D., is a Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Biological Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Contributors	ix
1. Neural Induction in Xenopus	1	(25)
Richard M. Harland
2. The Determination of the Neuronal Phenotype	26	(38)
David J. Anderson
Yuh Nung Jan
3. Neuron-Glial Interactions	64	(44)
Barbara A. Barres
4. Molecular Mechanisms of Axon Guidance and Target Recognition	108	(71)
Corey S. Goodman
Marc Tessier-Lavigne
5. Synapse Formation: A Molecular Perspective	179	(41)
Joshua R. Sanes
Richard H. Scheller
6. Neurotrophic Factors and Their Receptors: Roles in Neuronal Development and Function	220	(44)
Louis F. Reichardt
Isabel Farinas
7. Neuronal Cell Death	264	(26)
Julie Agapite
Hermann Steller
8. Inductive Signals and the Assignment of Cell Fate in the Spinal Cord and Hindbrain: An Axial Coordinate System for Neural Patterning	290	(44)
Thomas M. Jessell
Andrew Lumsden
9. The Role of Hox Genes in Hindbrain Development	334	(22)
Mario R. Capecchi
10. Regulation of Patterning and Differentiation in the Embryonic Vertebrate Forebrain	356	(35)
John L. R. Rubenstein
Kenji Shimamura
11. Lineage Analysis in the Vertebrate Central Nervous System	391	(49)
Constance L. Cepko
Jeffrey A. Golden
Francis G. Szele
John C. Lin
12. Development of the Cerebral Cortex: Mechanisms Controlling Cell Fate, Laminar and Areal Patterning, and Axonal Connectivity	440	(34)
Anjen Chenn
Janet E. Braisted
Susan K. McConnell
Dennis D.M. O'Leary
13. The Development of the Drosophila Visual System	474	(35)
Tanya Wolff
Kathleen A. Martin
Gerald M. Rubin
S. Lawrence Zipursky
14. Neurotrophins and Visual System Plasticity	509	(16)
Carla J. Shatz
15. Linking Layers and Connecting Columns: The Development of Local Circuits in Visual Cortex	525	(18)
Lawrence C. Katz
Index	543