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Updated: May 22, 2026

Analyses of Actin Dynamics, Clutch Coupling and Traction Force for Growth Cone Advance
Published on: October 21, 2021
WAVE2-Abi2 complex controls growth cone activity and regulates the multipolar-bipolar transition as well as the
Min-Jue Xie1, Hideshi Yagi, Kazuki Kuroda
1Division of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Department of Morphological and Physiological Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Fukui 910-1193, Japan.
Abstract:
Glia-guided migration (glia-guided locomotion) during radial migration is a characteristic yet unique mode of migration. In this process, the directionality of migration is predetermined by glial processes and not by growth cones. Prior to the initiation of glia-guided migration, migrating neurons transform from multipolar to bipolar, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this multipolar-bipolar transition and the commencement of glia-guided migration are not fully understood. Here, we demonstrate that the multipolar-bipolar transition is not solely a cell autonomous event; instead, the interaction of growth cones with glial processes plays an essential role. Time-lapse imaging with lattice assays reveals the importance of vigorously active growth cones in searching for appropriate glial scaffolds, completing the transition, and initiating glia-guided migration. These growth cone activities are regulated by Abl kinase and Cdk5 via WAVE2-Abi2 through the phosphorylation of tyrosine 150 and serine 137 of WAVE2. Neurons that do not display such growth cone activities are mispositioned in a more superficial location in the neocortex, suggesting the significance of growth cones for the final location of the neurons. This process occurs in spite of the "inside-out" principle in which later-born neurons are situated more superficially.
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