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Axon guidance

The turning point

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 7, page 7 (2006)Cite this article

En2 contains a few protein domains involved in nuclear export, secretion and internalization, and can be secreted and transferred from one cell to another. These features are unorthodox for a transcription factor and have long intrigued researchers. Brunet and colleagues set out to solve this mystery and tested the effect of an En2 gradient on axon turning in vitro.

Interestingly, Xenopus nasal axons were attracted by En2, whereas temporal axons were repelled. These opposite turning responses correspond to the in vivo organization of the retinotectal map, in which nasal axons terminate in the En2-rich caudal tectum but temporal axons avoid it. En2 was rapidly internalized by living growth cones. This process seems to be crucial for the effect of En2 on axon turning, as a mutant form of En2 that was defective in internalization also had no effect on growth cones.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Brunet, I. et al. The transcription factor Engrailed-2 guides retinal axons. Nature 438, 94–98 (2005)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Prochiantz, A. & Joliot, A. Can transcription factors function as cell–cell signalling molecules? Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 4, 814–819 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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Authors
  1. Jane Qiu
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Qiu, J. The turning point. Nat Rev Neurosci 7, 7 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1837

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1837

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