The role of an identified protein family

Work by Dr. Frédéric Charron's team recently published in Journal of Neuroscienceidentifies the fundamental role of a family of proteins, β-arrestins, in the development of the nervous system at the embryonic stage.

Charron is director of the Molecular Biology of Neural Development Research Unit at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) and research professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Montreal.

Currently, our understanding of the mechanisms involved in nervous system development is incomplete, which hinders the development of effective therapies to induce regeneration of nerve connections following spinal cord injury.

This advance in knowledge, the result of work carried out by doctoral student Rachelle Sauvé, in collaboration with Steves Morin, former research assistant, and Dr. Patricia Yam, in the laboratory of Frédéric Charron, represents an important insight into the role of β- Arrestins in the formation of the nervous system.

“This new understanding opens new avenues to explore the mechanisms that may lead to the regeneration of nerve connections following spinal cord injury,” explains Charron. And the more we can shed light on these mechanisms, the more we can act to correct the after-effects resulting from injuries. »

Role of proteins in axon guidance

During embryonic development, neurons extend their axons, long cellular cables that connect specific areas of the body together, establishing nerve connections.

The processes that direct the extension of the axon and guide its navigation are called axon guidance. Axonal guidance, among other things, connects each neuron to its specific target. It is therefore essential for the proper development of the nervous system.

Various guidance molecules, such as Sonic Hedgehog, direct axons to their targets, acting as signposts to guide axons to their destination. However, the detection of these guidance molecules by axons requires a complex molecular mechanism that is not yet fully discovered.

Charron's team demonstrated, for the first time, that β-arrestin proteins act as adapters between Smo and SFK proteins, two crucial components of axon guidance. Like an electronic adapter without which it would be impossible to connect your phone to a power outlet, the β-arrestin proteins allow the Smo and SFKs proteins to interact with each other.

Thus, β-arrestins link the detection of guidance signals received at the neuron surface to crucial intracellular proteins required for axon guidance.