title: Signalling mechanisms mediating neuronal responses to guidance cues.
abstract: Several families of extracellular guidance cues have been implicated in guiding neurons and axons to their appropriate destinations in the nervous system. Their receptors include single- and seven-transmembrane receptors, and their signal transduction pathways converge onto the Rho family of small GTPases, which control the cytoskeleton. A single guidance protein can use different mechanisms to regulate different kinds of motility or the motilities of different cell types. There is crosstalk between the signalling pathways initiated by distinct guidance cues. Studies of neuronal guidance mechanisms have shed light not only on neural development, but also on other processes that involve the extracellular regulation of the cytoskeleton.
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences Institute, Department of Biological Chemistry and Institute of Gerontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. kunliang@umich.edu
authors.forename: Kun-Liang
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D020239:Receptor Cross-Talk / Q000502:physiology; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins