title: Ect2, an ortholog of Drosophila Pebble, regulates formation of growth cones in primary cortical neurons.
abstract: In collaboration with Marshall Nirenberg, we performed in vivo RNA interference (RNAi) genome-wide screening in Drosophila embryos. Pebble has been shown to be involved in Drosophila neuronal development. We have also reported that depletion of Ect2, a mammalian ortholog of Pebble, induces differentiation in NG108-15 neuronal cells. However, the precise role of Ect2 in neuronal development has yet to be studied. Here, we confirmed in PC12 pheochromocytoma cells that inhibition of Ect2 expression by RNAi stimulated neurite outgrowth, and in the mouse embryonic cortex that Ect2 was accumulated throughout the ventricular and subventricular zones with neuronal progenitor cells. Next, the effects of Ect2 depletion were studied in primary cultures of mouse embryonic cortical neurons: Loss of Ect2 did not affect the differentiation stages of neuritogenesis, the number of neurites, or axon length, while the numbers of growth cones and growth cone-like structures were increased. Taken together, our results suggest that Ect2 contributes to neuronal morphological differentiation through regulation of growth cone dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysical Genetics, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.forename: Chiharu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Higashida
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Mohammad Saharul
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.forename: Mitsuko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dohmoto
authors.forename: Haruhiro
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Higashida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000502:physiology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors / Q000502:physiology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D034622:RNA Interference
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors; C121865:Pbl protein, Drosophila