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Publication Abstract from PubMed

During development, neurons are guided to their targets by short- and long-range attractive and repulsive cues. MICAL, a large multidomain protein, is required for the combined action of semaphorins and plexins in axon guidance. Here, we present the structure of the N-terminal region of MICAL (MICAL(fd)) determined by x-ray diffraction to 2.0 A resolution. The structure shows that MICAL(fd) is an FAD-containing module structurally similar to aromatic hydroxylases and amine oxidases. In addition, we present biochemical data that show that MICAL(fd) is a flavoenzyme that in the presence of NADPH reduces molecular oxygen to H(2)O(2) (K(m,NAPDH) = 222 microM; k(cat) = 77 sec(-1)), a molecule with known signaling properties. We propose that the H(2)O(2) produced by this reaction may be one of the signaling molecules involved in axon guidance by MICAL.

Structure and activity of the axon guidance protein MICAL.,Nadella M, Bianchet MA, Gabelli SB, Barrila J, Amzel LM Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Nov 15;102(46):16830-5. Epub 2005 Nov 7. PMID:16275926^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.