Ephrin-B3 is a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

that in humans is encoded by the EFNB3

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

. EFNB3, a member of the

ephrin Ephrins (also known as ephrin ligands or Eph family receptor interacting proteins) are a family of proteins that serve as the ligands of the Eph receptor. Eph receptors in turn compose the largest known subfamily of receptor protein-tyrosine kinas ...

gene family, is important in brain development as well as in its maintenance. The EPH and EPH-related receptors comprise the largest subfamily of receptor protein-tyrosine kinases. EPH receptors typically have a single kinase domain and an extracellular region containing a Cysteine-rich domain and 2 fibronectin type III repeats. The ephrin ligands and receptors have been named by the Eph Nomenclature Committee (1997) based on their structures and sequence relationships. Ephrins are divided into the ephrin-A (EFNA) class, which are anchored to the membrane by a

glycosylphosphatidylinositol Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (), or glycophosphatidylinositol, or GPI in short, is a phosphoglyceride that can be attached to the C-terminus of a protein during posttranslational modification. The resulting GPI-anchored proteins play key roles in ...

linkage, and the ephrin-B (EFNB) class, which are transmembrane proteins. Ephrin-B ligands also contain an intracellular tail with highly conserved

tyrosine -Tyrosine or tyrosine (symbol Tyr or Y) or 4-hydroxyphenylalanine is one of the 20 standard amino acids that are used by cells to synthesize proteins. It is a non-essential amino acid with a polar side group. The word "tyrosine" is from the G ...

residues and a PDZ-binding motif at the C-terminus. This tail functions as a mechanism for reverse signaling, where signaling occurs into the ligand-containing cell, as opposed to the cell with the receptor. Upon receptor-ligand interaction the tyrosine residues become phosphorylated and there is recruitment of

PDZ domain The PDZ domain is a common structural domain of 80-90 amino-acids found in the signaling proteins of bacteria, yeast, plants, viruses and animals. Proteins containing PDZ domains play a key role in anchoring receptor proteins in the membrane to ...

-containing proteins. The Eph family of receptors are similarly divided into two groups based on the similarity of their extracellular domain sequences and their affinities for binding ephrin-A and ephrin-B ligands. EphrinB3 has been implicated in mediating various developmental events, particularly in the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes ...

. EphrinB3 reverse signaling is important for axon pruning and synapse and spine formation during postnatal development of the nervous system. Previous work has also shown that signaling through this ligand is important for radial migration during cortical development. Moreover, levels of EFNB3 expression are particularly high in several

forebrain In the anatomy of the brain of vertebrates, the forebrain or prosencephalon is the rostral (forward-most) portion of the brain. The forebrain (prosencephalon), the midbrain (mesencephalon), and hindbrain (rhombencephalon) are the three primary ...

subregions compared to other brain subregions, and may play a pivotal role in forebrain function. It has been suggested that ephrinB3 signaling is necessary for

synaptic plasticity In neuroscience, synaptic plasticity is the ability of synapses to strengthen or weaken over time, in response to increases or decreases in their activity. Since memories are postulated to be represented by vastly interconnected neural circuits ...

to occur in the

hippocampus The hippocampus (via Latin from Greek , ' seahorse') is a major component of the brain of humans and other vertebrates. Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in each side of the brain. The hippocampus is part of the limbic system, ...

; this implicates ephrinB3 as a major player in learning and memory. More recently, ephrinB3 has been shown to regulate proliferation of

neural stem cell Neural stem cells (NSCs) are self-renewing, multipotent cells that firstly generate the radial glial progenitor cells that generate the neurons and glia of the nervous system of all animals during embryonic development. Some neural progenitor ste ...

s in the adult

subventricular zone The subventricular zone (SVZ) is a region situated on the outside wall of each lateral ventricle of the vertebrate brain. It is present in both the embryonic and adult brain. In embryonic life, the SVZ refers to a secondary proliferative zone ...

(SVZ).

References

Further reading