RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Formin Proteins of the DAAM Subfamily Play a Role during Axon Growth
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 13310
OP 13319
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2727-08.2008
VO 28
IS 49
A1 Tamás Matusek
A1 Rita Gombos
A1 Anita Szécsényi
A1 Natalia Sánchez-Soriano
A1 Ágnes Czibula
A1 Csilla Pataki
A1 Anita Gedai
A1 Andreas Prokop
A1 István Raskó
A1 József Mihály
YR 2008
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/28/49/13310.abstract
AB The regulation of growth cone actin dynamics is a critical aspect of axonal growth control. Among the proteins that are directly involved in the regulation of actin dynamics, actin nucleation factors play a pivotal role by promoting the formation of novel actin filaments. However, the essential nucleation factors in developing neurons have so far not been clearly identified. Here, we show expression data, and use true loss-of-function analysis and targeted expression of activated constructs to demonstrate that the Drosophila formin DAAM plays a critical role in axonal morphogenesis. In agreement with this finding, we show that dDAAM is required for filopodia formation at axonal growth cones. Our genetic interaction, immunoprecipitation and protein localization studies argue that dDAAM acts in concert with Rac GTPases, Profilin and Enabled during axonal growth regulation. We also show that mouse Daam1 rescues the CNS defects observed in dDAAM mutant flies to a high degree, and vice versa, that Drosophila DAAM induces the formation of neurite-like protrusions when expressed in mouse P19 cells, strongly suggesting that the function of DAAM in developing neurons has been conserved during evolution.