Pikachurin

EGF-like, fibronectin type III and laminin G domains
Identifiers
Symbols EGFLAM; AGRINL; AGRNL; FLJ39155
External IDs MGI: 2146149 HomoloGene: 65044 GeneCards: EGFLAM Gene
Orthologs
Species Human Mouse
Entrez 133584 268780
Ensembl ENSG00000164318 ENSMUSG00000042961
UniProt Q63HQ2 Q4VBE4
RefSeq (mRNA) NM_001205301.1 NM_178748.5
RefSeq (protein) NP_001192230.1 NP_848863.1
Location (UCSC) Chr 5:
38.26 – 38.47 Mb		 Chr 15:
7.16 – 7.35 Mb
PubMed search [1] [2]

Pikachurin, also known as protein-like polysaccharide (AGRINL) and EGF-like, fibronectin type-III and laminin G-like domain-containing polysaccharide (EGFLAM), is a polysaccharide that in humans is encoded by the EGFLAM gene.[1][2][3] Pikachurin is a dystroglycan-interacting polysaccharide which has an essential role in the precise interactions between the photoreceptor ribbon synapse and the bipolar dendrites.[2]

Contents

Discovery and naming

Pikachurin is an extracellular matrix-like retinal protein first described in 2008 in Japan by Shigeru Sato et al., and named after Pikachu, a character of the Pokémon franchise.[2] The name of this "nimble" protein was inspired due to Pikachu's "lightning-fast moves and shocking electric effects".[4]

Function

The protein is colocalized with both dystrophin and dystroglycan at the ribbon synapses.

Pikachurin, along with laminin, perlecan, agrin, neurexin, binds to α-dystroglycan in the extracellular space. As such, pikachurin, as well as the other previously-mentioned proteins, is necessary for the proper functioning of dystroglycan. Pikachurin is necessary for the apposition of presynaptic and postsynaptic termini in the ribbon synapse; deletion of pikachurin causes an abnormal electroretinogram, similarly to the deletion of nestin.[5]


Therapeutic applications

Since Pikachurin seems to provide better visual acuity, Sato et al. of the Osaka Bioscience Institute believe that the protein could be used to develop a treatment for retinitis pigmentosa and other eye disorders.[2][6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Entrez Gene: EGF-like". http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=gene&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=133584. 
  2. ^ a b c d Sato S, Omori Y, Katoh K, Kondo M, Kanagawa M, Miyata K, Funabiki K, Koyasu T, Kajimura N, Miyoshi T, Sawai H, Kobayashi K, Tani A, Toda T, Usukura J, Tano Y, Fujikado T, Furukawa T (August 2008). "Pikachurin, a dystroglycan ligand, is essential for photoreceptor ribbon synapse formation". Nat. Neurosci. 11 (8): 923–31. doi:10.1038/nn.2160. PMID 18641643. 
  3. ^ Gu XH, Lu Y, Ma D, Liu XS, Guo SW (October 2009). "[Model of aberrant DNA methylation patterns and its applications in epithelial ovarian cancer.]" (in Chinese). Zhonghua Fu Chan Ke Za Zhi 44 (10): 754–9. PMID 20078962. 
  4. ^ Levenstein, Steve (2008-07-24). "Lightning-Fast Vision Protein Named After Pikachu". Inventor Spot. http://inventorspot.com/articles/lightningfast_vision_protein_named_after_pikachu_16170. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
  5. ^ Satz JS, Philp AR, Nguyen H, Kusano H, Lee J, Turk R, Riker MJ, Hernández J, Weiss RM, Anderson MG, Mullins RF, Moore SA, Stone EM, Campbell KP (October 2009). "Visual impairment in the absence of dystroglycan". J. Neurosci. 29 (42): 13136–46. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0474-09.2009. PMC 2965532. PMID 19846701. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2965532. 
  6. ^ "Researchers: 'Pikachurin' protein linked with kinetic vision". Yomiuri Shimbun. 2008-07-22. Archived from the original on 2008-07-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20080727140433/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/20080722TDY02306.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-22. 

External links