title: To cross or not to cross: alternatively spliced forms of the Robo3 receptor regulate discrete steps in axonal midline crossing.
abstract: How growth cones grow toward and then away from intermediate targets is a key issue in axon guidance. In this issue of Neuron, Tessier-Lavigne and colleagues demonstrate that two different spliced isoforms of the Robo3 receptor act sequentially in commissural neuron growth cones to mediate this process at the ventral midline in the vertebrate spinal cord.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, MacDonald Research Laboratories, 675 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. dougb@microbio.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Douglas L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Black
authors.forename: S Lawrence
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Zipursky
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology*; D020439:Growth Cones / Q000502:physiology*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D000097905:Roundabout Proteins
chemical_list: D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C118348:Robo3 protein, mouse; D000097905:Roundabout Proteins