Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 22, 2026

Assaying the Ability of Diffusible Signaling Molecules to Reorient Embryonic Spinal Commissural Axons
Published on: March 8, 2010
Molecular interactions of syndecans during development
1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1300 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA. acraprae@facstaff.wisc.edu
Abstract:
The syndecans, cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs), bind numerous ligands via their HS glycosaminoglycan chains. The response to this binding is flavored by the identity of the core protein that bears the HS chains. Each of the syndecan core proteins has a short cytoplasmic domain that binds cytosolic regulatory factors. The syndecans also contain highly conserved transmembrane domain and extracellular domains for which important activities are slowly emerging. These protein domains, which will be the focus of this review, localize the syndecan to sites at the cell surface during development where they collaborate with other receptors to regulate signaling and cytoskeletal organization.
Related Concept Videos
Notch Signaling Pathway
The Notch gene came into the limelight in 1914 after the discovery that its mutation in Drosophila melanogaster leads to a serrated (or "notched") wing margin phenotype. It was not until 1985...
Assembly of Signaling Complexes
Interaction domains in cell signaling
Interaction domains recognize exposed features of their binding partners containing post-translationally modified sequences,...
Overview of Cell-Matrix Interactions
Catenins
Catenins in Cell Junctions
Catenins bind to cell adhesion molecules such as cadherins and link them to different cytoskeletal proteins depending on the type of cell junction. At the adherens...
Desmosomes
Cadherins in Tissue Organization
Cell Sorting During Development
Cell sorting plays an...

