Contact

  • Academic
    mosesa@stanford.edu
    University - Student Department: School of Medicine - IDP's - Neurosciences Position: Graduate

Additional Info

All Publications

  • Teneurin-3 and latrophilin-2 are required for somatotopic map formation and somatosensory topognosis. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology Sangster, K. T., Zhang, X., Del Toro, D., Sarantopoulos, C., Moses, A. M., Mahasenan, S., Pederick, D. T., Perreault, S., Fallet-Bianco, C., Roome, R. B., Seiradake, E., Luo, L., Kania, A. 2025

    Abstract

    Somatotopy is a recurring organisational feature of the somatosensory system where adjacent neurons and their connections represent adjacent regions of the body. The molecular mechanisms governing the formation of such "body maps" remain largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that the cell surface proteins teneurin-3 and latrophilin-2 are expressed in opposing gradients in multiple somatotopic maps in the mouse, including within the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Genetic manipulation of these proteins in spinal dorsal horn or sensory neurons distorts the somatotopy of neuronal connections and impairs accurate localisation of a noxious stimulus on the surface of the body. Our work provides the foundation for a molecular model of somatotopic map formation and insights into their function in the localisation of somatosensory stimuli or topognosis.

    View details for DOI 10.1101/2025.08.13.670179

    View details for PubMedID 40909519

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12407721

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1069-7253