ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2014
Dendrites are dispensable for basic motoneuron function but essential for fine tuning of behavior.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Chromatin remodelling subunit SMARCB1 is implicated in dendrite development and complex brain functions.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2026Article
- The Drosophila escape motor circuit shows differential vulnerability to aging linked to functional decay.PLoS biology · 2025Article
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- Single-cell type analysis of wing premotor circuits in the ventral nerve cord ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Specific presynaptic functions require distincteLife · 2025Article
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- Food supplementation with wheat gluten leads to climbing performance decline inmicroPublication biology · 2022Article
- Orderly compartmental mapping of premotor inhibition in the developing zebrafish spinal cord.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2020Article
- Dysregulated Plasma Membrane Turnover Underlying Dendritic Pathology in Neurodegenerative Diseases.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2020Review
- Intra-neuronal Competition for Synaptic Partners Conserves the Amount of Dendritic Building Material.Neuron · 2017Article
- Microstructural proliferation in human cortex is coupled with the development of face processing.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2017Article
- Transcriptional Reorganization ofFrontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2017Article
- Emerging Roles of Filopodia and Dendritic Spines in Motoneuron Plasticity during Development and Disease.Neural plasticity · 2016Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Dendrites are highly complex 3D structures that define neuronal morphology and connectivity and are the predominant sites for synaptic input. Defects in dendritic structure are highly consistent correlates of brain diseases. However, the precise consequences of dendritic structure defects for neuronal function and behavioral performance remain unknown. Here we probe dendritic function by using genetic tools to selectively abolish dendrites in identified Drosophila wing motoneurons without affecting other neuronal properties. We find that these motoneuron dendrites are unexpectedly dispensable for synaptic targeting, qualitatively normal neuronal activity patterns during behavior, and basic behavioral performance. However, significant performance deficits in sophisticated motor behaviors, such as flight altitude control and switching between discrete courtship song elements, scale with the degree of dendritic defect. To our knowledge, our observations provide the first direct evidence that complex dendrite architecture is critically required for fine-tuning and adaptability within robust, evolutionarily constrained behavioral programs that are vital for mating success and survival. We speculate that the observed scaling of performance deficits with the degree of structural defect is consistent with gradual increases in intellectual disability during continuously advancing structural deficiencies in progressive neurological disorders.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.