Media type: E-Article Title: Drosophila cdk5 is needed for locomotive behavior and NMJ elaboration, but seems dispensable for synaptic transmission Contributor: Kissler, Alexander E.; Pettersson, Nina; Frölich, Andreas; Sigrist, Stephan J.; Suter, Beat imprint: Wiley, 2009 Published in: Developmental Neurobiology Language: English DOI: 10.1002/dneu.20711 ISSN: 1932-8451; 1932-846X Keywords: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience ; Developmental Neuroscience Origination: Footnote: Description: <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Cyclin‐dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) functions in postmitotic neuronal cells and play roles in cell differentiation, cell migration, axonal guidance, and synaptic function. Here, we demonstrate that <jats:italic>Drosophila cdk5</jats:italic> is dispensable for adult viability and fertility, a feature that allows us to study its physiological function in the whole animal model. For the adult, <jats:italic>cdk5</jats:italic> is needed for proper locomotion and flight performance. Larvae lacking <jats:italic>cdk5</jats:italic> in the presynaptic tissue display abnormal crawling motion, and their neuromuscular junctions (NMJ) are elongated and contain a higher number of boutons that are smaller. As a result of these two counteracting effects, the total synaptic area/NMJ is similar to wild type, leading to normal synaptic transmission, indicating that a compensatory mechanism is capable of correcting the problem caused by the lack of <jats:italic>cdk5. futsch</jats:italic>, the <jats:italic>Drosophila</jats:italic> MAP1B homolog, is also involved in NMJ morphogenesis, and analysis of the NMJ phenotype of the double mutant <jats:italic>futsch</jats:italic><jats:sup><jats:italic>K68</jats:italic></jats:sup>; <jats:italic>cdk5</jats:italic><jats:sup>−</jats:sup> indicates that <jats:italic>cdk5</jats:italic> is epistatic to <jats:italic>futsch</jats:italic> in this process. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2009</jats:p> Access State: Open Access