DSCAM

DSCAM and Dscam are both abbreviations for Down Syndrome Cell Adhesion Molecule. The case difference is significant: DSCAM refers to the human protein, and Dscam refers to its analog in Drosophila.

Of particular interest is that Dscam1 could potentially have 38,016 alternative splicing forms from four variable exon clusters (12, 48, 33 and 2 alternatives respectively)[1]. The diversity of isoforms from alternative splicing of the Dscam1 gene in D. melanogaster allows every neuron in the fly to display a unique set of Dscam proteins on its cell surface. Like Dscam proteins interact to stimulate self-avoidance mechanisms that are essential for normal neural circuit development[2].

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Schmucker D, Clemens JC, Shu H, Worby CA, Xiao J, Muda M, Dixon JE, Zipursky SL (June 2000). "Drosophila Dscam is an axon guidance receptor exhibiting extraordinary molecular diversity". Cell 101 (6): 671–84. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80878-8. PMID 10892653. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0092-8674(00)80878-8. 
  2. ^ Hattori D, Millard SS, Wojtowicz WM, Zipursky SL (2008). "Dscam-mediated cell recognition regulates neural circuit formation". Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 24 (1): 597–620. doi:10.1146/annurev.cellbio.24.110707.175250. PMC 2711549. PMID 18837673. http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.cellbio.24.110707.175250?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dncbi.nlm.nih.gov. 

References

  1. Li W, Guan KL (July 2004). "The Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (DSCAM) interacts with and activates Pak". J. Biol. Chem. 279 (31): 32824–31. doi:10.1074/jbc.M401878200. PMID 15169762. http://www.jbc.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=15169762. 
  2. Wojtowicz WM, Flanagan JJ, Millard SS, Zipursky SL, Clemens JC (September 2004). "Alternative splicing of Drosophila Dscam generates axon guidance receptors that exhibit isoform-specific homophilic binding". Cell 118 (5): 619–33. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2004.08.021. PMC 2691713. PMID 15339666. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0092867404007962. 
  3. Watson FL, Püttmann-Holgado R, Thomas F, et al. (September 2005). "Extensive diversity of Ig-superfamily proteins in the immune system of insects". Science 309 (5742): 1874–8. doi:10.1126/science.1116887. PMID 16109846. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=16109846. 
  4. Chen BE, Kondo M, Garnier A, et al. (May 2006). "The molecular diversity of Dscam is functionally required for neuronal wiring specificity in Drosophila". Cell 125 (3): 607–20. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2006.03.034. PMID 16678102. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0092-8674(06)00445-4.