Many axon guidance ligands and their receptors have been identified, but it is still unclear
how these ligand-receptor interactions regulate events in the growth cone, such as
protrusion and cytoskeletal arrangement, during directed outgrowth in vivo. In this work, we
dissect the multiple and complex effects of UNC-6/Netrin on the growth cone. Previous
studies showed that in C. elegans, the UNC-6/Netrin receptor UNC-5 regulates growth cone
polarity, as evidenced by loss of asymmetric dorsal F-actin localization and protrusion in unc …

The UNC-6/netrin guidance cue functions in axon guidance in vertebrates and invertebrates,
mediating attraction via UNC-40/DCC family receptors and repulsion via by UNC-5 family
receptors. The growth cone reads guidance cues and extends lamellipodia and filopodia,
actin-based structures that sense the extracellular environment and power the forward
motion of the growth cone. We show that UNC-6/netrin, UNC-5 and UNC-40/DCC
modulated the extent of growth cone protrusion that correlated with attraction versus …