Proper neuronal function is strongly dependent on its morphology. One key part of this is the correct development of dendritic arbors. In this project we utilize the dendritic arborization neurons found in the larvae of Drosophila melanogaster as a tool to investigate the dynamics of a developing dendrite and the mechanisms steering the establishment of proper dendritic morphology.
Publications:
Ziegler AB, Wesselmann C, Beckschäfer K, Wulf AL, Dhiman N, Soba P, Thiele C, Bauer R, Tavosanis G. 2025, Individual lipid alterations at the origin of neuronal Ceramide Synthase defects. PLoS Genet. https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1011880
Yun Zhang., Hsin-Ho Sung., Anna B Ziegler., Ying-Chieh Wu., Ricardo Viais., Carlos Sánchez-Huertas., Lukas Kilo., Fikret-Gürkan Agrican., Ying-Ju Cheng., Kousuke Mouri., Tadashi Uemura., Jens Lüders., Cheng-Ting Chien., and Gaia Tavosanis. 2024. Augmin complex activity fine-tunes dendrite morphology through non-centrosomal microtubule nucleation in vivo. J. Cell Sci.
https://journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/doi/10.1242/jcs.261512/346505/Augmin-complex-activity-fine-tunes-dendrite
Stürner, T., Ferreira Castro, A., Philipps, M., Cuntz, H., Tavosanis, G., 2022. The branching code: A model of actin-driven dendrite arborization. Cell Rep.
39, 110746. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110746.
Kilo, L., Stürner, T., Tavosanis, G., Ziegler, A.B., 2021. Drosophila dendritic arborisation neurons: fantastic actin dynamics and where to find them. Cells
10. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10102777.
Tavosanis, G., 2021. Dendrite enlightenment. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol.
69, 222–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2021.05.001.
Ferreira Castro, A., Baltruschat, L., Stürner, T., Bahrami, A., Jedlicka, P., Tavosanis, G., Cuntz, H., 2020. Achieving functional neuronal dendrite structure through sequential stochastic growth and retraction. eLife
9. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.60920.
Stürner, T., Tatarnikova, A., Mueller, J., Schaffran, B., Cuntz, H., Zhang, Y., Nemethova, M., Bogdan, S., Small, V., Tavosanis, G., 2019. Transient localization of the Arp2/3 complex initiates neuronal dendrite branching in vivo. Development
146. https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.171397.
Ziegler, A.B., Tavosanis, G., 2019. Glycerophospholipids – Emerging players in neuronal dendrite branching and outgrowth. Dev. Biol.
451, 25–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.12.009.
Ziegler, A.B., Thiele, C., Tenedini, F., Richard, M., Leyendecker, P., Hoermann, A., Soba, P., Tavosanis, G., 2017. Cell-Autonomous Control of Neuronal Dendrite Expansion via the Fatty Acid Synthesis Regulator SREBP. Cell Rep.
21, 3346–3353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2017.11.069.
Nagel, J., Delandre, C., Zhang, Y., Förstner, F., Moore, A.W., Tavosanis, G., 2012. Fascin controls neuronal class-specific dendrite arbor morphology. Development
139, 2999–3009. https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.077800.
