Cortical interneurons refuse to follow the PAK.
The tangential migration of GABAergic interneurons to the cortex requires the activity of several transcription factors, but the mechanisms involved have remained elusive. In this issue of Neuron, Rubenstein and colleagues demonstrate that the homeobox proteins Dlx1 and Dlx2 promote interneuron migration in part by preventing the premature expression of PAK3, a serine/threonine kinase that is later involved in neurite outgrowth and other aspects of interneuron maturation.
Guillemot
François
F
Division of Molecular Neurobiology, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, NW71AA London, UK. fguille@nimr.mrc.ac.uk
D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007395:Interneurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D054462:p21-Activated Kinases
C088334:Distal-less homeobox proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C515912:Pak3 protein, mouse; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D054462:p21-Activated Kinases