PKA (red) activates a PP1 inhibitor (green) to steer growth cones.

Like a pack of teenagers, the sundry proteins that steer a growth cone stick close together, Han et al. show on page 101.

Growth cones are the trailblazers at the tip of growing axons. Their paths are lit by a combination of attractive and repulsive cues in the extracellular matrix. Attraction, via growth cone turning toward a cue, is linked to high axonal levels of cAMP, but its collaborators in the process are unknown.

The authors have now identified the downstream effectors of cAMP during attraction by examining one of its favorite targets: protein kinase A (PKA). They found that the type II form of PKA is strongly enriched in growth cone filopodia. PKA activity and its filopodial localization—mediated by a member of the AKAP adaptor protein family—were required for cAMP-induced attraction.

In...

The Rockefeller University Press
2007
The Rockefeller University Press
2007
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