With shorter neurites, wild-type interneuron precursors (top) migrate more easily than gangly Dlx1/2 mutants (bottom).

RUBENSTEIN/ELSEVIER

Neurons with overly long axons and dendrites can't migrate, report Inma Cobos, Ugo Borello, and John Rubenstein (University of California, San Francisco, CA).

Cortical interneurons migrate to their adult location in the cortex during embryogenesis. It has been known for some time that the transcription factors Dlx1 and Dlx2 control this migration, but just how they manage it was unclear.

Dlx1/2 are normally expressed at high levels in new interneurons and gradually reduce to low levels in postmigratory cells. Cobos et al. show that young interneuron precursors taken from mice lacking Dlx1/2 have much longer neurites (axons and dendrites) than their wild-type counterparts. The overly long neurites were associated with increased expression of several cytoskeleton regulatory genes.

The team showed that PAK3 kinase, one of these regulators, was expressed...

The Rockefeller University Press
2007
The Rockefeller University Press
2007
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