Putting the brakes on axonal branching.

ABSTRACT

In a recent study, Ziak et al. employed precise sparse labeling and spatiotemporally controlled genetic manipulations to uncover novel regulators of axon branching of layer 2/3 mouse callosal projection neurons. The authors elucidated a cell-autonomous signaling pathway wherein glycogen synthase kinase 3ß (GSK3ß) phosphorylation of microtubule-associated protein 1B (MAP1B) restricts interstitial axon branching by modulating microtubule (MT) tyrosination status.