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Function and Molecular Biology of the MEGF10 Cell Surface Protein in Retinal Neurons and Glia

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Wednesday, July 03, 2019
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Jingjing Wang
Dissertation Seminar

Jingjing Wang is in the Kay lab. In the central nervous system, billions of neurons interconnect with precision to form morphologically complex and functionally diverse neural circuits. The stereotypical fashion by which neurons assemble suggests that cell-surface molecular cues can act as identity tags during development. These cell surface receptors allow neurons to distinguish between circuit partners, incorrect connections and homotypic neighbors. Multiple EGF-like domains 10 (Megf10) was previously identified to mediate homotypic recognition of certain retinal cell types. Genetic evidence suggests that MEGF10 acts as both ligand and receptor to initiate cell-cell repulsion. Although its significance in cell-cell recognition has been demonstrated, the exact mechanism of how MEGF10 mediates mosaic formation remains unclear. Specifically, the biochemical basis of MEGF10-MEGF10 interaction is largely unknown nor do we have knowledge on what molecules are involved in signaling transduction. Further, MEGF10 is also expressed in glia cells, but it has not been tested if this MEGF10 recognition event is neuron specific. To address these questions, we decided to first characterize the molecular components of the MEGF10 complex. We determined MEGF10 complex composition through co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) and chemical crosslinking and discovered that MEGF10 forms a lateral complex.

Contact: LaDonna Huseman