title: Drosophila Dunc-115 mediates axon projection through actin binding.
abstract: A central step in organizing the central nervous system development is the growth cone of an axon navigating through guidance cues to reach its specific target. While a great deal of this process has been understood especially in identifying the extracellular guidance cues and their membrane receptors, much less is known about how guidance signals are further relayed to the actin filaments that are central to the mobility of the growth cone. The previous results from our laboratory have shown that Drosophila gene dunc-115 regulates axon projection in the eye and the central nervous system. Furthermore, Dunc-115 has a villin-headpiece (VHD) domain, implying the possibility of binding to actin. To further characterize Dunc-115's functions, we have identified the isoform Dunc-115L as a possible downstream target in relaying guidance cues further down to the cytoskeleton. Specifically, we have shown that Dunc-115 regulates neural connections in both the eye and the central nervous system in Drosophila and that Dunc-115 contains an actin-binding domain potentially capable of binding to actin filaments. In this report, we show that Dunc-115 binds to actin via its VHD domain directly, suggesting a possible mechanism for how Dunc-115 relays guidance signals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11210, USA.|Department of Biological Sciences and Geology, Queensborough Community College, City University of New York, 222-05 56th Avenue, Bayside, NY, 11364, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roblodowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11210, USA. qhe@brooklyn.cuny.edu.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism*; D015816:Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000166:cytology; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004330:Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005123:Eye / Q000378:metabolism; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger
chemical_list: D015816:Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C488771:UNC protein, Drosophila; C051642:fasciclin II; C026615:villin
keywords: Actin binding; Axonal pathfinding; Drosophila; Dunc-115; Signaling