Branch-restricted localization of phosphatase Prl-1 specifies axonal synaptogenesis domains

Abstract

Compartmentalization of axons Neurons can spread branches far and wide across the central nervous system. One neuron can simultaneously contact several other neurons, amplifying network complexity. Studying the Drosophila brain, Urwyler et al. found that not all axon branches are the same, even within one neuron (see the Perspective by Falkner and Scheiffele). A membrane-anchored phosphatase functions within a subset of axon branches to regulate synapse formation. Thus, the pattern of synapses on one neuron is not random but rather is spatially restricted according to subcompartments in the axon. Science , this issue p. eaau9952 ; see also p. 437