The physiological role of the GTPase Rab21 in neuronal migration and the development of the cerebral cortex.

SEBASTIAN DUPRAZ; MAYRA PEROTTI; FLORENTYNA BUSTOS PLONKA; SANTIAGO QUIROGA; LUCAS J. SOSA

Chicago

Congreso; 49th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience; 2019

Society for Neuroscience

The development of the complex mammalian neocortex requires the proper migration of developing neurons from the ventricular zone containing neural progenitors to the cortical plate. The precise coordination of different cellular processes such as cytoskeleton dynamics, membrane trafficking and cell adhesion during migration is achieved by a variety of signaling pathways. GTPases play a central role in all these processes. In this context, the small GTPase Rab21 has been implicated in the regulation of cell adhesion dynamics by controlling the trafficking of endocytic vesicles containing adhesion molecules. Moreover, Rab21 is implicated in the processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP), amyloid beta generation and axonal outgrowth. However, whether the GTPase Rab21 plays a critical role in neuronal migration, differentiation and axonal path-finding during the developing cerebral cortex remains unclear. We hypothesize that the GTPase Rab21 plays a critical role in neuronal migration, differentiation and axonal path-finding by regulating the levels of APP on the neuronal cell surface.