Brenman, J.E., Gao, F.B., Jan, L.Y., Jan, Y.N. (2001). Sequoia, a tramtrack-related zinc finger protein, functions as a pan-neural regulator for dendrite and axon morphogenesis in Drosophila.  Dev. Cell 1(5): 667--677.

FBrf0141460

Research paper

Morphological complexity of neurons contributes to their functional complexity. How neurons generate different dendritic patterns is not known. We identified the sequoia mutant from a previous screen for dendrite mutants. Here we report that Sequoia is a pan-neural nuclear protein containing two putative zinc fingers homologous to the DNA binding domain of Tramtrack. sequoia mutants affect the cell fate decision of a small subset of neurons but have global effects on axon and dendrite morphologies of most and possibly all neurons. In support of sequoia as a specific regulator of neuronal morphogenesis, microarray experiments indicate that sequoia may regulate downstream genes that are important for executing neurite development rather than altering a variety of molecules that specify cell fates.