This Message Will Self-Destruct: NMD Regulates Axon Guidance

Regulation of Axon Guidance by Compartmentalized Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay

Growth cones enable axons to navigate toward their targets by responding to extracellular signaling molecules. Growth-cone responses are mediated in part by the local translation of axonal messenger RNAs (mRNAs). However, the mechanisms that regulate local translation are poorly understood. Here we show that Robo3.2, a receptor for the Slit family of guidance cues, is synthesized locally within...

A DLK-dependent axon self-destruction program promotes Wallerian degeneration

Extracellular Matrix Regulates UNC-6 (Netrin) Axon Guidance by Controlling the Direction of Intracellular UNC-40 (DCC) Outgrowth Activity

How extracellular molecules influence the direction of axon guidance is poorly understood. The HSN axon of Caenorhabditis elegans is guided towards a ventral source of secreted UNC-6 (netrin). The axon's outgrowth response to UNC-6 is mediated by the UNC-40 (DCC) receptor. We have proposed that in response to the UNC-6 molecule the direction of UNC-40-mediated axon outgrowth is stochastically d...

Protein phosphatase 2A cooperates with the autophagy-related kinase UNC-51 to regulate axon guidance in Caenorhabditis elegans.

UNC-51 is a serine/threonine protein kinase conserved from yeast to humans. The yeast homolog Atg1 regulates autophagy (catabolic membrane trafficking) required for surviving starvation. In C. elegans, UNC-51 regulates the axon guidance of many neurons by a different mechanism than it and its homologs use for autophagy. UNC-51 regulates the subcellular localization (trafficking) of UNC-5, a rec...

Calpain-Mediated Proteolysis of Talin and FAK Regulates Adhesion Dynamics Necessary for Axon Guidance.

Guidance of axons to their proper synaptic target sites requires spatially and temporally precise modulation of biochemical signals within growth cones. Ionic calcium (Ca2+) is an essential signal for axon guidance that mediates opposing effects on growth cone motility. The diverse effects of Ca2+ arise from the precise localization of Ca2+ signals into microdomains containing specific Ca2+ eff...