Axon Growth and Guidance

CONTENT Contents xiii PREFACE ........................................................................................................... vii 1. MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF AXONAL GROWTH ........................ 1 Céline Bouquet and Fatiha Nothias Introduction .........................................................................................................................1 The Neuronal Growth Cone and its Cytoskeletal Organization ..................................... 1 Mechanisms of Axonal Elongation ..................................................................................... 6 Regulation of the Cytoskeleton by Extracellular Cues, Role of Rho-GTPases .................................................................................................. 7 Growth Cone of Regenerating Axons .............................................................................. 10 2. NETRINS AND THEIR RECEPTORS........................................................ 17 Simon W. Moore, Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Timothy E. Kennedy Introduction .......................................................................................................................17 Netrin Structure .................................................................................................................19 Functional Roles for Netrins during Nervous System Development ............................21 Netrin Signal Transduction...............................................................................................22 Netrin in the Adult Nervous System ................................................................................ 25 Conclusion and Perspectives ............................................................................................26 3. EPH RECEPTORS AND EPHRIN LIGANDS IN AXON GUIDANCE........................................................................ 32 Michael Reber, Robert Hindges and Greg Lemke Introduction .......................................................................................................................32 Molecular Structure .......................................................................................................... 32 Mechanisms of Signal Transduction ................................................................................ 34 Functional Implication during Nervous System Development ..................................... 39 Conclusion and Perspectives ............................................................................................44 4. ROLE OF SEMAPHORINS DURING AXON GROWTH AND GUIDANCE ................................................................................ 50 Eric Koncina, Lise Roth, Bertand Gonthier and Dominique Bagnard Introduction .......................................................................................................................50 Functional Roles of Semaphorins during Axon Guidance ............................................. 50 Receptors of Secreted-Semaphorins: The Neuropilins .................................................. 52 Receptors of Transmembrane-Semaphorins: The Plexin Family .................................53 Other Receptors Associated with Semaphorin Signaling .............................................. 54 Intracellular Signal Transduction ....................................................................................56 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 59 xiv Contents 5. SLITS AND THEIR RECEPTORS .............................................................. 65 Alain