Pretzel-shaped arrays of AChRs (red) form in muscle fibers even when no nerve is present.

The receiving end of a synapse holds the blueprint for its own construction, as shown by Kummer et al. on page 1077. The findings suggest that the axon may take morphology instructions from its postsynaptic partner.

The ends of axons branch into complex patterns that are precisely mirrored at the receiving end of a synapse at the mammalian neuromuscular junction (NMJ). On the muscle side, this complex postsynaptic pattern can be seen as a pretzel-shaped array of acetylcholine receptors (AChRs). Based on decades' worth of in vitro studies, the formation of this pretzel pattern from an oval-shaped precursor was thought to depend on the branching pattern of the apposing axon. But Kummer et al. find that when muscle cells are given the right matrix, no nerve is needed.

Matrix...

The Rockefeller University Press
2004
The Rockefeller University Press
2004
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