Neural migration. Structures of netrin-1 bound to two receptors provide insight into its axon guidance mechanism.
Xu, K., Wu, Z., Renier, N., Antipenko, A., Tzvetkova-Robev, D., Xu, Y., Minchenko, M., Nardi-Dei, V., Rajashankar, K.R., Himanen, J., Tessier-Lavigne, M., Nikolov, D.B.(2014) Science 344: 1275-1279
- PubMed: 24876346 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1255149
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
4PLM, 4PLN, 4PLO - PubMed Abstract: 
Netrins are secreted proteins that regulate axon guidance and neuronal migration. Deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) is a well-established netrin-1 receptor mediating attractive responses. We provide evidence that its close relative neogenin is also a functional netrin-1 receptor that acts with DCC to mediate guidance in vivo. We determined the structures of a functional netrin-1 region, alone and in complexes with neogenin or DCC. Netrin-1 has a rigid elongated structure containing two receptor-binding sites at opposite ends through which it brings together receptor molecules. The ligand/receptor complexes reveal two distinct architectures: a 2:2 heterotetramer and a continuous ligand/receptor assembly. The differences result from different lengths of the linker connecting receptor domains fibronectin type III domain 4 (FN4) and FN5, which differs among DCC and neogenin splice variants, providing a basis for diverse signaling outcomes.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Structural Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA.