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Updated: Feb 10, 2026

Quantification of Filamentous Actin F-actin Puncta in Rat Cortical Neurons
Published on: February 10, 2016
A Dendritic Guidance Receptor Complex Brings Together Distinct Actin Regulators to Drive Efficient F-Actin Assembly
Wei Zou1, Xintong Dong2, Timothy R Broederdorf3
1The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Yiwu 322000, China; Institute of Translational Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Abstract:
Proper morphogenesis of dendrites plays a fundamental role in the establishment of neural circuits. The molecular mechanism by which dendrites grow highly complex branches is not well understood. Here, using the Caenorhabditis elegans PVD neuron, we demonstrate that high-order dendritic branching requires actin polymerization driven by coordinated interactions between two membrane proteins, DMA-1 and HPO-30, with their cytoplasmic interactors, the RacGEF TIAM-1 and the actin nucleation promotion factor WAVE regulatory complex (WRC). The dendrite branching receptor DMA-1 directly binds to the PDZ domain of TIAM-1, while the claudin-like protein HPO-30 directly interacts with the WRC. On dendrites, DMA-1 and HPO-30 form a receptor-associated signaling complex to bring TIAM-1 and the WRC to close proximity, leading to elevated assembly of F-actin needed to drive high-order dendrite branching. The synergistic activation of F-actin assembly by scaffolding distinct actin regulators might represent a general mechanism in promoting complex dendrite arborization.
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