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Updated: Aug 3, 2026

Visualization of the Axonal Projection Pattern of Embryonic Motor Neurons in Drosophila
Published on: June 16, 2017
Functions of netrins and semaphorins in axon guidance
1Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. culotti@mshri.on.ca
Abstract:
Neuronal growth cones respond to both contact-mediated and chemotropic guidance cues; these cues can be either attractive or repulsive. This past year has seen further characterization of two gene families implicated in long-range chemoattraction and chemorepulsion: the netrins and the semaphorins. Analysis of invertebrate members of these gene families demonstrates in vivo how netrins play multiple roles in axonal guidance in Caenorhabditis elegans, how specific domains of the netrin molecule confer attractive and repulsive guidance cues, and how semaphorins can function to generate neuromuscular specificity.
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