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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Micromanipulation Techniques Allowing Analysis of Morphogenetic Dynamics and Turnover of Cytoskeletal Regulators
Published on: May 12, 2018
Alpha protocadherins and Pyk2 kinase regulate cortical neuron migration and cytoskeletal dynamics via Rac1 GTPase and
Li Fan1,2,3, Yichao Lu1,2,3, Xiulian Shen1,2,3
1Key Laboratory of Systems Biomedicine (Ministry of Education), Center for Comparative Biomedicine, Institute of Systems Biomedicine, Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
Abstract:
Diverse clustered protocadherins are thought to function in neurite morphogenesis and neuronal connectivity in the brain. Here, we report that the protocadherin alpha (Pcdha) gene cluster regulates neuronal migration during cortical development and cytoskeletal dynamics in primary cortical culture through the WAVE (Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome family verprolin homologous protein, also known as Wasf) complex. In addition, overexpression of proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2, also known as Ptk2b, Cakβ, Raftk, Fak2, and Cadtk), a non-receptor cell-adhesion kinase and scaffold protein downstream of Pcdhα, impairs cortical neuron migration via inactivation of the small GTPase Rac1. Thus, we define a molecular Pcdhα/WAVE/Pyk2/Rac1 axis from protocadherin cell-surface receptors to actin cytoskeletal dynamics in cortical neuron migration and dendrite morphogenesis in mouse brain.
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