Multicluster Pcdh diversity is required for mouse olfactory neural circuit assembly

Abstract

Pattern formation in the brain Neurons in the developing brain cooperate to build circuits. Mountoufaris et al. found that ∼50 variable protocadherin genes support a combinatorial identity code that allows millions of olfactory neuron axons to sort into ∼2000 glomeruli. Sharing olfactory receptors drives axons to one glomerulus, and protocadherin diversity allows the multiple axons to touch each other as they converge. On the other hand, Chen et al. found that a single C-type protocadherin underlies the tiled distribution of serotonergic neurons throughout the central nervous system. These neurons, which share protocadherin identity, enervate broad swaths evenly without touching neighboring neurons. Science , this issue p. 411 , p. 406