Neuropilin

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neuropilin 1
Identifiers
Symbol	NRP1
HUGO	8004
Entrez	8829
OMIM	602069
RefSeq	NM_001024628
UniProt	O14786
Other data
Locus	Chr. 10 p12

neuropilin 2
Identifiers
Symbol	NRP2
HUGO	8005
Entrez	8828
OMIM	602070
RefSeq	NM_201279
UniProt	O60462
Other data
Locus	Chr. 2 q34

Neuropilin is a protein receptor active in neurons.

There are two forms of Neuropilins, NRP-1 and NRP-2. They are predominantly co-receptors for another class of proteins known as Semaphorins. Of the Semaphorins, NRP-1 and NRP-2 are specically receptors for Class-3 Semaphorins, which, amongst many things, are responsible for axon guidance during the developement of the nervous system in vertebrates.

Neuropilins work as co-receptors as they do not have a cytoplasmic domain and thus rely upon other molecules to transduce their signals across a cell membrane, normally Plexins. Neuropilins generally work as dimers and different combinations have different affinities for molecules. For example, NRP-1 homodimers have high affinity for Sema-3A, whilst NRP-2 homodimers have high affinity for Sema-3F.