A model organism approach: defining the role of Neph proteins as regulators of neuron and kidney morphogenesis
16.03.2010
Neumann-Haefelin E, Kramer-Zucker A, Slanchev K, Hartleben B, Noutsou F, Martin K, Wanner N, Ritter A, Gödel M, Pagel P, Fu X, Müller A, Baumeister R, Walz G, Huber TB.
Hum Mol Genet 19(12):2347-59
Neph/nephrin family proteins can form cell–cell adhesion modules across species. Expression of all three mammalian Neph isoforms partially rescued mutant C. elegans lacking their Neph homolog syg-1 and restored synapse formation. In zebrafish in situ hybridizations identified zNeph1 and zNeph2 as glomerular proteins. Morpholino knockdown of either zNeph1 or zNeph2 resulted
in loss of slit diaphragms and leakiness of the glomerular filtration barrier.
