Making connections: cholinesterase-domain proteins in the CNS.
Recent studies have highlighted novel functions of a group of cell adhesion molecules during nervous system development. Members of this protein family are characterized by an extracellular domain with sequence homology to cholinesterases and include the neuroligins, synaptic cell adhesion molecules recently implicated in autism, and neurotactin, a cell surface receptor involved in axonal pathfinding. Although these proteins have a structural organization similar to the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, the cholinesterase domain lacks enzymatic activity and functions as a protein-protein interaction motif. This protein family provides a striking example of how the function of a catalytically active domain has evolved to mediate receptor-ligand interactions that regulate morphogenetic processes during development of the nervous system.
Columbia University, Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, and Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, College of Physicians and Surgeons, 630 West 168th Street, P&S 11-511, New York, NY 10032, USA. fg2008@columbia.edu
Francisco G
FG
Scholl
Peter
P
Scheiffele
D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000378:metabolism*; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D002802:Cholinesterases / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D017385:Sequence Homology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase; D002802:Cholinesterases