%0 Journal Article
%T Programmed cell death in type II neuroblast lineages is required for central complex development in the Drosophila brain
%A Yanrui Jiang
%A Heinrich Reichert
%J Neural Development
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1749-8104-7-3
%X A significant number of the adult-specific neurons generated in these DM lineages were eliminated by programmed cell death. Programmed cell death occurred during both larval and pupal stages. During larval development, approximately one-quarter of the neuronal (but not glial) cells in the lineages were eliminated by apoptosis before the formation of synaptic connectivity during pupal stages. Lineage-tracing experiments documented the extensive contribution of intermediate neural progenitor-containing DM lineages to all of the major modular substructures of the adult central complex. Moreover, blockage of apoptotic cell death specifically in these lineages led to prominent innervation defects of DM-derived neural progeny in the major neuropile substructures of the adult central complex.Our findings indicate that significant neural overproliferation occurs normally in type II DM lineage development, and that elimination of excess neurons in these lineages through programmed cell death is required for the formation of correct neuropile innervation in the developing central complex. Thus, amplification of neuronal proliferation through intermediate progenitors and reduction of neuronal number through programmed cell death operate in concert in type II neural stem-cell lineages during brain development.The Drosophila central brain is a highly complex neural structure comprising several tens of thousands of neural cells that are organized into the intricate synaptic circuitry of the neuropile. The neurons of the brain are generated during development by a remarkably small set of approximately 100 bilaterally symmetrical pairs of neural stem-cell-like primary progenitors referred to as 'neuroblasts' [1,2]. These neuroblasts undergo two phases of neurogenesis; the first takes place during embryogenesis, and the second occurs during the post-embryonic larval phase [3,4]. During embryonic neurogenesis, the brain neuroblasts produce the primary neurons of the larval brain. Aft
%U http://www.neuraldevelopment.com/content/7/1/3