Subpopulations of sensory neurons appear in embryonic dorsal root ganglia during development. In this paper, we examine what role neuron-target interactions play in this process. Previous work has shown that alterations in the environment of developing sensory neurons regulate the proportion of neurons that express a cell surface antigen identified by the monoclonal antibody SN1 (Marusich et al.: Dev. Biol. 118: 505-510, 1986). We now report that neuron-target interactions may also act to stabilize the phenotype of sensory neurons. Thus, older SN1-neurons, which would normally remain SN1-if left undisturbed in vivo, can express SN1 immunoreactivity in vitro when they are deprived of contact with their normal peripheral targets. We also demonstrate that naive sensory neurons, i.e., those that have never made contact with peripheral targets, can be identified and maintained in culture. At least some of these naive neurons (all of which are initially SN1-) can express SN1 immunoreactivity in vitro, in the absence of contact with normal peripheral targets. We conclude that subpopulations of sensory neurons may arise from naive neurons in the absence of neuron-target interactions but that subsequent neuron-target interactions may act to stabilize or modulate subpopulation-specific phenotypes.