The Hatten Lab Projects
|
 |
Genetics of Neurite Outgrowth - Unc51.1, Unc51.2 and Their Binding Partners
To understand early steps in granule cell axon extension, we have isolated homologs of the C.
elegans gene Unc-51. There are two murine homologs of this gene, cloned by us (Tomoda et al,
2000), which turn out to be very early genes in the program of differentiation of granule
neurons. Recent work indicates that Unc51 functions, not by the Rho-mediated pathway to
control assembly of the neuronal cytoskeleton, but rather to assemble proteins (SynGap,
Syntenin) localized to vesicles that function in early steps in membrane vesicle trafficking in
neurons via the Rab5 and Rab7 GTPases (Tomoda et al, 2004) represents the first paper
showing a pathway for early steps in the assembly of the vesicle trafficking pathways required
for synaptic vesicles specific to neurons This step is required for the formation of neurites, in
this case the parallel fibers of the cerebellar granule neurons.
A model for the binding partners of Unc51.1 is shown below:
Hatten Lab Projects
Hatten Lab Home Page