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Brain development needs sugar: the role of polysialic acid in controlling NCAM functions
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Martina Mühlenhoff
Published/Copyright:
May 9, 2009
Abstract
Polysialic acid (polySia) is a major regulator of cell-cell interactions in the developing nervous system and a key factor in maintaining neural plasticity. As a polyanionic molecule with high water binding capacity, polySia increases the intercellular space and creates conditions that are permissive for cellular plasticity. While the prevailing model highlights polySia as a non-specific regulator of cell-cell contacts, this review concentrates on recent studies in knockout mice indicating that a crucial function of polySia resides in controlling interactions mediated by its predominant protein carrier, the neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM.
Keywords: axon guidance; brain connectivity; cell-cell interaction; cell surface glycosylation; neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM; polysialyltransferase
Received: 2009-3-24
Accepted: 2009-4-17
Published Online: 2009-05-09
Published in Print: 2009-07-01
©2009 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
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Keywords for this article
axon guidance;
brain connectivity;
cell-cell interaction;
cell surface glycosylation;
neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM;
polysialyltransferase
Articles in the same Issue
- Guest Editorial
- Highlight: Perspectives in glycobiology
- Cell biology and glycosylation: protein targeting by O- and N-linked glycosylation
- Glycosylation- and phosphorylation-dependent intracellular transport of lysosomal hydrolases
- Glycosylation pattern of brush border-associated glycoproteins in enterocyte-like cells: involvement of complex-type N-glycans in apical trafficking
- Impact of glycosylation and detergent-resistant membranes on the function of intestinal sucrase-isomaltase
- MUC1 traverses apical recycling endosomes along the biosynthetic pathway in polarized MDCK cells
- Cell biology and glycosylation: carbohydrate-mediated recognition and signaling in cell proliferation and differentiation
- From structural to functional glycomics: core substitutions as molecular switches for shape and lectin affinity of N-glycans
- Brain development needs sugar: the role of polysialic acid in controlling NCAM functions
- Beyond glycosylation: sialic acid precursors act as signaling molecules and are involved in cellular control of differentiation of PC12 cells
- Glycosylation and disease
- Management of the human mucosal defensive barrier: evidence for glycan legislation
- Regulation and pathophysiological implications of UDP-GlcNAc 2-epimerase/ManNAc kinase (GNE) as the key enzyme of sialic acid biosynthesis
- GD3 synthase overexpression enhances proliferation and migration of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells
- Tumor-associated MUC1 glycopeptide epitopes are not subject to self-tolerance and improve responses to MUC1 peptide epitopes in MUC1 transgenic mice
- Protein-specific glycosylation and its control
- Protein-specific glycosylation: signal patches and cis-controlling peptidic elements
- O-glycosylation pattern of CD24 from mouse brain
- Advancements in analytical techniques
- Carbohydrate microarrays: key developments in glycobiology
- On-line nano-HPLC/ESI QTOF MS monitoring of α2–3 and α2–6 sialylation in granulocyte glycosphingolipidome
