Zebrafish mutants of the neuromuscular junction: swimming in the gene pool

This review provides an overview of zebrafish mutants with dysfunctional acetylcholine receptors or related proteins at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). The NMJ, which has served as the classical model of the chemical synapse, uses acetylcholine as the neurotransmitter, and mutations of proteins involved in the signaling cascade lead to a variety of behavioral phenotypes. Mutants isolated after random chemical mutagenesis screening are summarized, and advances in the field resulting from these mutants are discussed.