Ephrins in reverse, park and drive.
Eph receptors and their membrane-anchored ephrin ligands are thought to orchestrate cell movements by transducing bidirectional tyrosine-kinase-mediated signals into both cells expressing the receptors and cells expressing the ligands. Whether the resulting event is repulsion of an axonal growth cone, directing the orderly segmentation of hindbrain rhombomere cells or controlling angiogenic remodelling, such elaborate and diverse cell movements require intricate changes in the actin cytoskeleton, as well as precise regulation of cellular adhesion. Recent work by several groups has begun to link ephrin reverse signals to intracellular pathways that regulate actin dynamics and might help to explain how these ligands function as receptors to direct cell movement, adhesion and de-adhesion events.
Center for Developmental Biology, Kent Waldrep Foundation Center for Basic Research on Nerve Growth and Regeneration, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9133, USA. cowan@utsw.swmed.edu
Chad A
CA
Cowan
Mark
M
Henkemeyer
D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002465:Cell Movement; D036342:Ephrins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011485:Protein Binding; D036081:Receptors, Eph Family / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction
D036342:Ephrins; D036081:Receptors, Eph Family