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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Mar 13.
Published in final edited form as: Neuron. 2008 Mar 13;57(5):705–718. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.01.026

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Ghost boutons form de novo in intact undissected larvae and develop into mature boutons by acquiring postsynaptic GluR and presynaptic Brp clusters. Time-lapse imaging through the intact cuticle of NMJs expressing presynaptic myr-RFP (red) and either postsynaptic GluR-GFP (green) or presynaptic Brp-GFP (green) showing (A) de novo formation of a ghost bouton (arrows) in muscle 27 at 24hr and clustering of GluR receptors on the ghost bouton (arrows) at 36hr. (B) Progressive increase in the number of GluR clusters (arrows) in a differentiating bouton, on muscle 27, over a 24hr period. Arrowhead in myr-RFP at 0 hr points to a synaptopod (C) Another example of a ghost bouton (arrows) in muscles 14 and 30 imaged at 0hr, which acquired GluR clusters (arrows) at 24 hours. * = peptidergic ending, which normally lacks GluR clusters. (D, E) Ghost boutons (arrows) in muscles 14 and 30 at 0hr, which acquired Brp clusters at 18 hr (arrows). Thin neurites may appear invisible, next to bright mRFP signal of boutons. Calibration scale is 5 µm in A, 3 µm in B, and 8 µm in C–E.