Direct measurement of oscillatory RhoA activity in embryonic cortical neurons stimulated with the axon guidance cue netrin-1 using fluorescence resonance energy transfer
Abstract
Rho GTPases play an essential role during the development of the nervous system. They induce cytoskeletal rearrangements that are critical for the regulation of axon outgrowth and guidance. It is generally accepted that Rac1 and Cdc42 are positive regulators of axon outgrowth and guidance, whereas RhoA is a negative regulator. However, spatiotemporal control of their activity can modify the function of Rho GTPases during axonal morphogenesis. Signalling downstream of the axon guidance cue netrin-1 and its receptor deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) triggers the activation of Rac1 and the inhibition of RhoA to promote axon outgrowth. However, our previous work also suggests that netrin-1/DCC signalling can activate RhoA in a time- and region-specific manner. Here, we visualised RhoA activation in response to netrin-1 in live embryonic cortical neurons using fluorescence resonance energy transfer. RhoA activity oscillated in unstimulated neurons and netrin-1 increased the amplitude of the oscillations in growth cones after 5 min of stimulation. Within this period of time, netrin-1 transiently increased RhoA activity and modulated the pattern of RhoA oscillations. We found that the timing of netrin-1-induced RhoA activation was di...Continue Reading
References
Phosphorylation of cofilin by LIM-kinase is necessary for semaphorin 3A-induced growth cone collapse
Control of axon elongation via an SDF-1alpha/Rho/mDia pathway in cultured cerebellar granule neurons
Citations
The +TIP Navigator-1 is an actin-microtubule crosslinker that regulates axonal growth cone motility.
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Axon Guidance
Axon guidance is a complex neural developmental field that investigates mechanisms through which neurons send out axons to reach its target. Here is the latest research in this domain.