The mammalian genome contains three NRXN genes (NRXN1, NRXN2...

created [InstanceEdit:6794080] Garapati, Phani Vijay, 2015-09-04
dbId 6794045
displayName The mammalian genome contains three NRXN genes (NRXN1, NRXN2...
literatureReference
modified [InstanceEdit:6797311] Garapati, Phani Vijay, 2015-09-07
schemaClass Summation
text The mammalian genome contains three NRXN genes (NRXN1, NRXN2 and NRXN3), each of which produce from independent promoters a longer alpha- and a shorter beta neurexin isoform. Furthermore, extensive alternative splicing at five canonical positions generates thousands of NRXN isoforms. In situ hybridizations showed that different alpha and beta-NRXNs are co-expressed in the same class of neurons, but that each type of NRXN is differentially distributed among different classes of neurons (Ullirich et al. 1995, Sudhof 2009, Missler et al. 2012).
Neuroligins (NLGNs) are endogenous NRXN ligands. NLGNs are expressed from four genes in vertebrates (NLGN-1 to -4). All NLGNs are alternatively spliced at a single canonical position (referred to as SS A) (Boucard et al. 2005, Ichtchenko et al. 1996). In contrast to neurexins, neuroligins are specifically localized to particular synapses. NLGN1 is only present at excitatory synapses (Song et al. 1999), NLGN2 and NLGN4 at inhibitory synapses (Varoqueaux et al. 2004, Hoon et al. 2011), whereas NLGN3 is present at both excitatory and inhibitory synapses (Budreck and Scheiffele 2007). alpha- and beta-neurexins both bind to all neuroligins to form cell adhesion complexes (Boucard et al. 2005). alpha-NRXNs with thier sixth LNS (laminin, neurexin and sex hormone-binding globulin-like) domain and beta-NRXNs with their single LNS domain bind to the lateral sides of the NLGNs esterase-homology domain (Fabrichny et al. 2007, Arac et al. 2007, Chen et al. 2008, Boucard et al. 2005, Reissner et al. 2008).
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