Syndecan-2 induces filopodia and dendritic spine formation via the neurofibromin-PKA-Ena/VASP pathway

J Cell Biol. 2007 Jun 4;177(5):829-41. doi: 10.1083/jcb.200608121.

Abstract

Syndecan-2 induced filopodia before spinogenesis; therefore, filopodia formation was used here as a model to study the early downstream signaling of syndecan-2 that leads to spinogenesis. Screening using kinase inhibitors indicated that protein kinase A (PKA) is required for syndecan-2-induced filopodia formation in both human embryonic kidney cells and hippocampal neurons. Because neurofibromin, a syndecan-2-binding partner, activates the cyclic adenosine monophosphate pathway, the role of neurofibromin in syndecan-2-induced filopodia formation was investigated by deletion mutant analysis, RNA interference, and dominant-negative mutant. The results showed that neurofibromin mediates the syndecan-2 signal to PKA. Among actin-associated proteins, Enabled (Ena)/vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) were predicted as PKA effectors downstream of syndecan-2, as Ena/VASP, which is activated by PKA, induces actin polymerization. Indeed, when the activities of Ena/VASP were blocked, syndecan-2 no longer induced filopodia formation. Finally, in addition to filopodia formation, neurofibromin and Ena/VASP contributed to spinogenesis. This study reveals a novel signaling pathway in which syndecan-2 activates PKA via neurofibromin and PKA consequently phosphorylates Ena/VASP, promoting filopodia and spine formation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • COS Cells
  • Cell Line
  • Chlorocebus aethiops
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / metabolism
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
  • Dendritic Spines / physiology
  • Dendritic Spines / ultrastructure*
  • Enzyme Activation
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Neurofibromin 1 / metabolism
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Pseudopodia / physiology
  • Pseudopodia / ultrastructure*
  • Signal Transduction*
  • Syndecan-2 / chemistry
  • Syndecan-2 / physiology*

Substances

  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • ENA-VASP proteins
  • Neurofibromin 1
  • Syndecan-2
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases