Neuritin: A gene induced by neural activity and neurotrophins that promotes neuritogenesis

Abstract

Neural activity and neurotrophins induce synaptic remodeling in part by altering gene expression. A cDNA encoding a glycosylphoshatidylinositol-anchored protein was identified by screening for hippocampal genes that are induced by neural activity. This molecule, named neuritin, is expressed in postmitotic-differentiating neurons of the developing nervous system and neuronal structures associated with plasticity in the adult. Neuritin message is induced by neuronal activity and by the activity-regulated neurotrophins BDNF and NT-3. Purified recombinant neuritin promotes neurite outgrowth and arborization in primary embryonic hippocampal and cortical cultures. These data implicate neuritin as a downstream effector of activity-induced neurite outgrowth.

Genome-wide Scan of IQ Finds Significant Linkage to a Quantitative Trait Locus on 2q

“…Full IQ showed suggestive linkage to a relatively small region ($5 cM) on the short arm of the chromosome in which Neuritin1, a gene expressed in the postmitotic-differentiating neurons of the developing nervous system and in neuronal structures related to long term plasticity, is located (Naeve et al, 1997). Also on 6p (6p22.3-6p24.3) was a linkage to arithmetic, which is in a nearby region to a recent association of the succinate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase gene (on 6p22) to IQ (Plomin et al, 2004).…”

Refined genotype–phenotype correlations in cases of chromosome 6p deletion syndromes

“…Patient 2 presents with epilepsy. Neuritin is induced by neuronal activity and promotes neuritogenesis; 23 therefore, haploinsufficiency for this gene may contribute to developmental delay in our cases.…”

Androgen regulation of axon growth and neurite extension in motoneurons

“…We have used differential display PCR (DD-PCR), confirmed with RT-PCR, to identify several genes that are either activated or repressed by androgen treatment (Marron et al, 2005). One of the primary genes upregulated by androgen is neuritin, also known as cpg15 (for candidate plasticity-related gene 15; Naeve et al, 1997;Nedivi et al, 1993). Neuritin is a small, highly conserved protein linked to the extracellular membrane through a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor, and is known to be associated with neurite elongation in several areas of the nervous system.…”

“…Neuritin expression peaks during neuronal development (Cantallops et al, 2000;Corriveau et al, 1999;Nedivi et al, 1996), and is particularly elevated in embryonic proliferative zones (Putz et al, 2005). Moreover, recombinant neuritin promotes neurite outgrowth and arborization in primary cultures of embryonic hippocampal and cortical cells (Naeve et al, 1997). Neuritin expression is also associated with dramatic growth of dendritic arbors (Nedivi et al, 1998), coordinated development of apposing dendritic and axonal arbors, and synaptic maturation (Putz et al, 2005).…”

“…Neuritin expression is also associated with dramatic growth of dendritic arbors (Nedivi et al, 1998), coordinated development of apposing dendritic and axonal arbors, and synaptic maturation (Putz et al, 2005). Neuritin expression is highly upregulated by neuronal activity and the activity-induced neurotrophins BDNF and NT-3 (Naeve et al, 1997), and in cortical neurons during post-stroke reorganization (Han et al, 2007). Furthermore, neuritin is a key player in the NGF-directed neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells, where its upregulation is a critical step in neurite outgrowth and the differentiation of axon-like processes (Cappelletti et al, 2007).…”