Dab2IP Regulates Neuronal Positioning, Rap1 Activity and Integrin Signaling in the Developing Cortex

Abstract

Dab2IP (DOC-2/DAB2 interacting protein) is a GTPase-activating protein which is involved in various aspects of brain development in addition to its roles in tumor formation and apoptosis in other systems. In this study, we carefully examined the expression profile of Dab2IP and investigated its physiological role during brain development using a Dab2IP-knockdown (KD) mouse model created by retroviral insertion of a LacZ-encoding gene-trapping cassette. LacZ staining revealed that Dab2IP is expressed in the ventricular zone as well as the cortical plate and the intermediate zone. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that Dab2IP protein is localized in the leading process and proximal cytoplasmic regions of migrating neurons in the intermediate zone. Bromodeoxyuridine birth dating experiments in combination with immunohistochemical analysis using layer-specific markers showed that Dab2IP is important for proper positioning of a subset of layer II-IV neurons in the developing cortex. Notably, neuronal migration was not completely disrupted in the cerebral cortex of Dab2IP-KD mice and disruption of migration was not strictly layer specific. Previously, we found that Dab2IP regulates multipolar transition in cortical neurons. Others have shown that Rap1 regulates the transition from multipolar to bipolar morphology in migrating postmitotic neurons through N-cadherin signaling and somal translocation in the superficial layer of the cortical plate through integrin signaling. Therefore, we examined whether Rap1 and integrin signaling were affected in Dab2IP-KD brains. We found that Dab2IP-KD resulted in higher levels of activated Rap1 and integrin in the developing cortex. Taken together, our results suggest that Dab2IP plays an important role in the migration and positioning of a subpopulation of later-born (layers II-IV) neurons, likely through the regulation of Rap1 and integrin signaling.