The neuronal growth and regeneration associated Cntn1 (F3/F11/Contactin) gene is duplicated in fish: expression during development and retinal axon regeneration

Abstract

The Cntn1 (Contactin/F3/F11) cell adhesion molecule is involved in axon growth and guidance, fasciculation, synapse formation, and myelination in birds and mammals. We identified Cntn1 genes in goldfish, zebrafish, and fugu, and provide evidence for a fish-specific duplication leading to Cntn1a and Cntn1b. Our analyses suggest a subfunctionalization for the Cntn1 paralogs in zebrafish compared to other vertebrates which have a single Cntn1 gene. Similar to Cntn1a, Cntn1b transcripts are found in subsets of sensory and motor neurons. However, Cntn1b is detected later and more restricted than Cntn1a. This spatio-temporal expression pattern of the two zebrafish Cntn1 paralogs suggests functions related to those of mammalian Cntn1. In adult goldfish, Cntn1b is expressed in oligodendrocytes and is upregulated in retinal ganglion cells after optic nerve transection, which is consistent with an additional role during regeneration.

Biogenesis of GPI-anchored proteins is essential for surface expression of sodium channels in zebrafish Rohon-Beard neurons to respond to mechanosensory stimulation

“…These in vitro data suggest that contactin 1 is the most probable target of GPI transamidase to promote sodium channel expression at the RB cell surface. Owing to the suspected duplication of the whole genome, zebrafish have two paralogs of Contactin 1, Contactin 1a and Contactin 1b, the former expressed in RB neurons, and the latter in the retina and lens but not RB cells (Gimnopoulos et al, 2002;Haenisch et al, 2005). However, antisense knockdown of Contactin 1a did not perturb the touchevoked swimming (data not shown).…”

The role of Gpi-anchored axonal glycoproteins in neural development and neurological disorders

“…in a trans interaction. However, oligodendrocytes themselves express CNTN1 (Haenisch et al, 2005;Çolakoğlu et al, 2014) making it possible that cis interactions are involved, which may affect how Notch is trafficked; the trafficking pathways taken by Notch during signalling affects both the level and type of signal generated (Yap & Winckler, 2015). This is pertinent to the TAG/F3 experiments in the cortex since ectopic expression of CNTN1 is induced in cells that may already express both CNTN1 and CNTN2 (it is not clear whether this is in the same or different cells), which suggests that it may be the levels, or the subcellular localisations of these proteins that is critical to the signalling outcome.…”

CNTN-1 Enhances Chemoresistance in Human Lung Adenocarcinoma Through Induction of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition by Targeting the PI3K/Akt Pathway

“…Contactin-1 (CNTN-1), a neuronal cell adhesion molecular, has been shown to be involved in nervous system development [28-29]. In recent years, the abnormal expression of CNTN-1 was reported to be closely correlated with carcinogenesis and tumor progression [11, 30-34].…”