Head:
Dr. Ulrich Thomas Department Neurochemistry and Molecular Biology Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology Brenneckestraße 6 39118 Magdeburg Germany Phone:     +49-391-6263-93231 Fax:         +49-391-6263-93319 E-mail:     Ulrich.Thomas@lin-magdeburg.de

The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) of body wall muscles of Drosophila larvae is an easily accessible glutamatergic synapse. The power of Drosophila classical and molecular genetics can be employed to study assembly and function of this synapse. In parallel with work on vertebrate brain synapses we are studying the molecular organization of the fly's NMJ.

Synaptic boutons of a 3rd instar larval neuromuscular junction. The motoneuron is visualized by HRP staining (green). Boutons are immunostained with antibodies against the postsynaptic proteins Dlg (red) and Dlin-7 (magenta). Muscle cell nuclei are visualized by DAPI staining (light blue).

Collaborators in the project:

• Ulrich Thomas (Teamleader)
• Eve Gerecke
• Juliane Handschuh
• Kathrin Gruss (Technical support)

External collaborations:

• Vivian Budnik, University of Massachusetts, Worchester
• Jimena Sierralta, Universidad de Chile
• Stephan Sigrist, ENI Göttingen
• Elisabeth Knust, MPI Dresden