Lizzy Olsen

This paper describes a protocol to quantify compensatory motor neuron sprouting at the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction following injury.

In Drosophila larvae, ventral oblique (VO) muscles drive protopodium folding, and a tri-segmental A27h–A18b3–A06c premotor excitation-inhibition motif restricts their activation to a late, forward-specific window.

This study shows that Drosophila tonic motor neurons can reinnervate denervated muscles through structural plasticity, while phasic neurons show minimal remodeling.

The paper identifies spatially distinct nAChR subunits in Drosophila motor neurons and shows their non-redundant roles in locomotion through genetic and imaging analyses.