Drosophila synapse formation: regulation by transmembrane protein with Leu-rich repeats, CAPRICIOUS.

Abstract

Upon reaching the target region, neuronal growth cones transiently search through potential targets and form synaptic connections with only a subset of these. The capricious (caps) gene may regulate these processes in Drosophila. caps encodes a transmembrane protein with leucine-rich repeats (LRRs). During the formation of neuromuscular synapses, caps is expressed in a small number of synaptic partners, including muscle 12 and the motorneurons that innervate it. Loss-of-function and ectopic expression of caps alter the target specificity of muscle 12 motorneurons, indicating a role for caps in selective synapse formation.