Ephrin-B3 is a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

that in humans is encoded by the EFNB3

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

. 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 ki ...

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 Receptor may refer to: *Sensory receptor, in physiology, any neurite structure that, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse *Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and responds ...

. EPH receptors typically have a single

kinase In biochemistry, a kinase () is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of phosphate groups from high-energy, phosphate-donating molecules to specific substrates. This process is known as phosphorylation, where the high-energy ATP molecule don ...

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 (GPI) 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 a wide vari ...

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 conditionally essential amino acid with a polar side group. The word "tyrosine" is ...

residues and a

PDZ-binding motif 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 ...

at the

C-terminus The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, carboxy tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comp ...

. 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 acid, amino-acids found in the Signal transduction, signaling proteins of bacteria, yeast, plants, viruses and animals. Proteins containing PDZ domains play a key role in anchoring recept ...

-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 complex system, highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its behavior, actions and sense, sensory information by transmitting action potential, signals to and from different parts of its body. Th ...

. 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 controls body temperature, reproductive functions, eating, sleeping, and the display of emotions. Ve ...

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 Chemical synapse#Synaptic strength, strengthen or weaken over time, in response to increases or decreases in their activity. Since memory, memories are postulated to be represent ...

to occur in the

hippocampus The hippocampus (: hippocampi; via Latin from Ancient Greek, Greek , 'seahorse'), also hippocampus proper, is a major component of the brain of humans and many other vertebrates. In the human brain the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus, and the ...

; 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 st ...

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 zon ...

(SVZ).

References

Further reading