Moore Research Unit
Unit Leader
Adrian W. MOORE (Ph.D.)
Dendrites are the chief site of signal input into a neuron, and in the brain tens of thousands of inputs are received on a single dendrite arbour alone. The functional variety of neurons in a complex nervous system is reflected in a large diversity of dendrite arbour morphologies.Our lab and others have made significant advances in understanding the intrinsic genetic programs of dendrite development using the Drosophila melanogaster dendritic arborization sensory (DA) neuron model. DA neurons have highly complex dendritic arbours, which are shaped in a class-specific manner by the combinatorial expression of the transcription factors Knot, Cut and Abrupt in different subsets of DA neuron classes. By using genetics, genomics, and in vivo imaging techniques in Drosophila we are examining how these class-specific transcription factors modulate cytoskeletal components during arbour elaboration and investigating their downstream effectors. Our goal is to understand the mechanisms by which class-specific alterations in dendrite arbour morphogenesis lead to differences in mature dendrite arbour shape.To understand how neuron type fate choices are made in both the mammalian and Drosophila nervous systems we are concentrating PRDM (PRDI-BF1 and RIZ homology domain containing) proto-oncogene family. For example, we found that several members of this family (Prdm6, 8, 12, 13 and 16) are expressed in the developing mouse CNS, are regulated by the Notch-Hes pathway, and we are now investigating their role in the control of neuron class specification and the sequential progression of mammalian CNS neurogenesis.
- Control of dendrite morphology
- The role of the PRDM oncogenes to define and maintain neural stem cell identity
- Moore, A.W., Roegiers, F., Jan, L.Y., and Jan, Y.N.:
"Conversion of Neurons and Glia to External-Cell fates in the External Sensory Organs of Drosophila hamlet Mutants by a Cousin-Cousin Cell-Type Re-specification"
Genes Dev. 15, 18(6), 623-8 (2004). - Grueber, W.B., Ye, B., Moore, A.W., Jan, L.Y., and Jan, Y.N.:
"Dendrites of distinct classes of Drosophila sensory neurons show different capacities for homotypic repulsion"
Curr. Biol. 13 (8), 618-26 (2003). - Moore, A.W., Jan, L.Y., and Jan, Y.N.:
"Hamlet, a binary genetic switch between single- and multiple- dendrite neuron morphology"
Science 297 (5585), 1355-8 (2002). - Moore, A.W., Barbel, S., Jan, L.Y., and Jan, Y.N.:
"A genomewide survey of basic helix-loop-helix factors in Drosophila"
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97 (19), 10436-41 (2000). - Kuzin A, Brody T, Moore AW, Odenwald WF.
"Nerfin-1 is required for early axon guidance decisions in the developing Drosophila CNS."
Dev Biol. 2005 Jan 15;277(2):347-65. - King-Underwood L, Little S, Baker M, Clutterbuck R, Delassus S, Enver T, Lebozer C, Min T, Moore A, Schedl A, Pritchard-Jones K.
"Wt1 is not essential for hematopoiesis in the mouse."
Leuk Res. 2005 Jul;29(7):803-12. - Jinushi-Nakao S.#, Arvind R#, Amikura R, Kinameri E, Liu A.W. & Moore AW. #Authors contributed equally.
"Knot/Collier and Cut Control Different Aspects of Dendrite Cytoskeleton and Synergize to Define Final Arbor Shape."
Neuron 2007 Dec 20;56(6):963-78 - Moore AW
"Intrinsic mechanisms to define neuron class-specific dendrite arbor morphology."
Cell Adhesion and Migration 2:2,1-2;April/May/June 2008 - Emi Kinameri, Takashi Inoue, Jun Aruga, Itaru Imayoshi, Ryoichiro Kageyama, Tomomi Shimogori, Adrian W. Moore
"Prdm Proto-Oncogene Transcription Factor Family Expression and Interaction with the Notch-Hes Pathway in Mouse Neurogenesis"
PLoS ONE. 2008; 3(12): e3859