The Origin, Location, and Projections of the Embryonic Abdominal Motorneurons ofDrosophila

We have used a retrograde labeling technique to identify motorneurons for each of the 30 body wall muscles of an abdominal hemisegment in the late stage 16Drosophilaembryo. Each motorneuron has a characteristic cell body position, dendritic arborization, and axonal projection. In addition, we have determined the neuroblasts of origin for most of the motorneurons we describe. Some organizational principles for the neuromuscular system have become apparent: (1) There is no obvious topographic relationship between the cell body positions of motorneurons and the position or orientation of the muscles they innervate; (2) motorneurons that innervate muscles of similar position and orientation are…