Timecourse: MB neurons at the onset and early steps of axon pruning. Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila mushroom body (MB) γ neurons undergo axon pruning during metamorphosis through a process of localized degeneration of specific axon branches. Developmental axon degeneration is initiated at the onset of metamorphosis by the pre-pupal rise in the steroid hormone ecdysone. This study identifies genes that alter their expression in MB neurons at the onset and early steps of axon pruning. Keywords: timecourse Overall design: y,w animals were staged at -18, 0 and 5 hours relative to puparium formation. RNA was isolated from MB neurons labeled with mCD8::GFP driven by OK107-GAL4 by laser capture microdissection, labeled and hybridized to Affymetrix Drosophila Genome Arrays.