Compartmentalization of Central Neurons inDrosophila: A New Strategy of Mosaic Analysis Reveals Localization of Presynaptic Sites to Specific Segments of Neurites

Synaptogenesis in the CNS has received far less attention than the development of neuromuscular synapses, although only central synapses allow the study of neuronal postsynaptic mechanisms and display a greater variety of structural and functional features. This neglect is attributable mainly to the enormous complexity of the CNS, which makes the visualization of individual synapses on defined neuronal processes very difficult. We overcome this obstacle and demonstrate by confocal microscopy the specific arrangement of output synapses on individual neurites. These studies are performed via genetic mosaic strategies in the CNS of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. First, we use targeted e…