How the visual centers of the brain become organized into the neuronal circuits that carry out the processing of visual information has long been an elusive question. In the brain of the fruitfly, Drosophila, retinal axons and the axons of the optic ganglia form precise retinotopic interconnections. This lab has used a genetic approach to identify the molecules involved in establishing the connective architecture. Examination of the expression and activity of several genes with well-described functions in Drosophila pattern formation suggests that the visual ganglia are organized on the basis of positional information encoded in a polar coordinate map. This proposal will test this hypothesis. A genetic screen will be performed to identify additional molecules involved in patterning. Another screen to identify molecules involved in the establishment of neuronal connectivity in the visual system has resulted in mutations at 47 loci. Two genes have been identified that act early in patterning while two others appear to act in later steps involving retinal axon outgrowth and navigation. Further phenotypic and molecular characterization of these genes is proposed.
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