Draxin, a Repulsive Guidance Protein for Spinal Cord and Forebrain Commissures

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 323; no. 5912; pp. 388 - 393
• Main Authors: Islam, Shahidul M, Shinmyo, Yohei, Okafuji, Tatsuya, Su, Yuhong, Naser, Iftekhar Bin, Ahmed, Giasuddin, Zhang, Sanbing, Chen, Sandy, Ohta, Kunimasa, Kiyonari, Hiroshi, Abe, Takaya, Tanaka, Satomi, Nishinakamura, Ryuichi, Terashima, Toshio, Kitamura, Toshio, Tanaka, Hideaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 16.01.2009; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Axons; Axons - physiology; brain; Cell aggregates; Cercopithecus aethiops; Chick Embryo; chicks; Coculture Techniques; Corpus callosum; Corpus Callosum - embryology; Corpus Callosum - metabolism; COS Cells; Electroporation; explants; Forebrain; Growth cones; Growth Cones - metabolism; Growth Cones - physiology; growth retardation; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - chemistry; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - genetics; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - metabolism; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - physiology; Knockout mice; knockout mutants; Mice; Mice, Knockout; Molecular Sequence Data; Neurites; Neurites - metabolism; Neurites - physiology; Neurogenesis; Neuroglia; Neuroglia - metabolism; Neurons; Prosencephalon - abnormalities; Prosencephalon - embryology; Prosencephalon - metabolism; protein secretion; proteins; Recombinant Proteins - metabolism; Spinal cord; Spinal Cord - embryology; Spinal Cord - metabolism; Tissue Culture Techniques
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1165187

Axon guidance proteins are critical for the correct wiring of the nervous system during development. Several axon guidance cues and their family members have been well characterized. More unidentified axon guidance cues are assumed to participate in the formation of the extremely complex nervous system. We identified a secreted protein, draxin, that shares no homology with known guidance cues. Draxin inhibited or repelled neurite outgrowth from dorsal spinal cord and cortical explants in vitro. Ectopically expressed draxin inhibited growth or caused misrouting of chick spinal cord commissural axons in vivo. draxin knockout mice showed defasciculation of spinal cord commissural axons and absence of all forebrain commissures. Thus, draxin is a previously unknown chemorepulsive axon guidance molecule required for the development of spinal cord and forebrain commissures.