Can GAP-43 interact with brain spectrin?

Beat M. Riederer*, Aryeh Routtenberg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

The growth-associated and presynaptic protein GAP-43 is important for axonal growth during brain development, for synaptic plasticity and in axonal regeneration [Benowitz, Routtenberg, TINS 12 (1987) 527]. It has been speculated that such growth may be mediated by cytoskeletal proteins. However, the interaction of GAP-43 with proteins of the presynaptic terminals is poorly characterized. Here, we analyze GAP-43 binding to cytoskeletal proteins by two different biochemical assays, by blot overlay and sedimentation. We find that immobilized brain spectrin (BS) is able to bind GAP-43. In contrast, little binding was observed to microtubule proteins and other elements of the cytoskeleton. Since GAP-43 is located presynaptically, it may bind to the presynaptic form of BS (SpIIΣ1). It is attractive to think that such an interaction would participate in the structural plasticity observed in growth cones and adult synapses.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)345-348
Number of pages4
JournalMolecular Brain Research
Volume71
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 25 1999

Keywords

  • Blot overlay
  • Brain spectrin
  • Cytoskeleton
  • GAP- 43
  • Microtubule
  • Rat
  • Sedimentation assay
  • SpIIΣ1

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

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