Enabled (Xena) regulates neural plate morphogenesis, apical constriction, and cellular adhesion required for neural tube closure in Xenopus.

ABSTRACT: Regulation of cellular adhesion and cytoskeletal dynamics is essential for neurulation, though it remains unclear how these two processes are coordinated. Members of the Ena/VASP family of proteins are localized to sites of cellular adhesion and actin dynamics and lack of two family members, Mena and VASP, in mice results in failure of neural tube closure. The precise mechanism by which Ena/VASP proteins regulate this process, however, is not understood. In this report, we show that Xenopus Ena (Xena) is localized to apical adhesive junctions of neuroepithelial cells during neurulation and that Xena knockdown disrupts cell behaviors integral to neural tube closure. Changes in the shape of the neural plate as well as apical constriction within the neural plate are perturbed in Xena knockdow

SUBMITTER: Roffers-Agarwal J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2266839 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature