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Developmental mechanisms, homology and evolution of the insect peripheral nervous system

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Book cover The Nervous Systems of Invertebrates: An Evolutionary and Comparative Approach

Part of the book series: Experientia Supplementum ((EXS,volume 72))

Summary

Segmentally homologous neurogenesis and neuronal differentiation processes characterize the formation of the insect peripheral nervous system. These processes have been analyzed at the level of identified neurons and nerve branches in the grasshopper. During early embryogenesis a simple peripheral nerve scaffolding is established in each body segment. This scaffolding consists of serially reiterated segmental nerves, which are pioneered by afferent neurons situated in limb bud homologs, and of serially reiterated intersegmental nerves, which are pioneered by homologous body wall afferents. Subsequently, identified sets of serially homologous sensory neurons differentiate in a stereotyped spatiotemporal pattern in each segment and project their axons onto these nerves. Data on serial homology in the development of the peripheral nervous system, which were obtained on the basis of comparative structural and developmental data in the grasshopper, are supported by a large body of developmental and genetic data obtained using Drosophila wild-type and mutants. Indeed, a comparison of the results obtained in the grasshopper with those obtained from Drosophila shows that virtually the same pattern of peripheral nerves and major sensory structures is formed in both species. These findings indicate that the construction of the peripheral nervous system in extremely divergent modern insects relies on conserved developmental mechanisms that evolved in ancestral insects over 300 million years ago.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 4200 East Ninth Ave., Denver, CO, 80262, USA

    T. Meier

  2. Laboratory of Neurobiology, Department of Zoology, University of Basel, Switzerland

    H. Reichert

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  1. T. Meier
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  2. H. Reichert
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fakultät und Institut für Mathematik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, NA 5-26, D-44801, Bochum, Germany

    O. Breidbach

  2. Fakultät für Biologie, Universität Konstanz, Universitätsstr. 10, D-78464, Konstanz, Germany

    W. Kutsch

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Meier, T., Reichert, H. (1995). Developmental mechanisms, homology and evolution of the insect peripheral nervous system. In: Breidbach, O., Kutsch, W. (eds) The Nervous Systems of Invertebrates: An Evolutionary and Comparative Approach. Experientia Supplementum, vol 72. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-9219-3_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-9219-3_12

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser Basel

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-0348-9949-9

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