Published on October 15, 2020 | Updated on October 15, 2020

CORTEX Conference by Julien Courchet

September 25th at 11am

Control of cortical axon morphogenesis through mitochondria trafficking and function

The proper function of neuronal circuits in the adult brain relies on glucose metabolism to ensure energy-demanding neuronal functions such as synaptic activity or long distance axonal transport. Deregulation of the energy metabolism is strongly associated to many neurodegenerative diseases and has been linked to some neuropsychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia. However our current understanding of metabolic regulation in the developing brain and in particular in rapidly growing neurons is still fragmental.

We recently identified a novel signaling pathways involving two kinases LKB1 and NUAK1, and controlling axon outgrowth and terminal branching through a novel mechanism involving the regulation of mitochondria trafficking and clustering in the developing axon. My presentation will review the latter findings, as well as our use of molecular tools to visualize mitochondria trafficking and function in cultured neuron.