University of California

Kevin J Mitchell

Marc Tessier-Lavigne

Philip A Leighton

Corey S Goodman

Thomas Kidd

Claire Louise Russell

Guy Tear

William C Skarnes

The amount of active Robo expressed on a cell is modified by modulating the effective amount of a Comm polypeptide in contact with the cell, whereby the amount of expressed active Robo is modulated inversely with the modulation of the effective amount of the Comm polypeptide in contact with the cell. In a particular embodiment, the Comm polypeptide is provided to the cell by exogenously in a pharmaceutically acceptable composition. In another aspect, the invention provides methods of screening for agents which modulate Robo-Comm interactions. These methods generally involve forming a mixture of a Robo-expressing cell, a Comm polypeptide and a candidate agent, and determining the effect of the agent on the amount of Robo expressed by the cell.

Method for modulating nerve cell function

The invention provides methods and compositions for expressing targeted gene products in vertebrate neurons. The compositions include gene trap vectors comprising a polynucleotide comprising promoterless selectable marker and axon reporter encoding sequences, which may be operatively joined to an internal ribosome-entry site, and may comprise a splice acceptor site located 5&prime; to the selectable marker and axon reporter encoding sequences. The methods include methods of expressing an axon reporter in a cell by transferring the subject vectors into an embryonic stem cell and incubating the cell under conditions whereby the cell or a progeny of the cell differentiates into a neuron comprising an axon or dendrites, and the neuron expresses the axon reporter under the transcriptional control of the gene; and specifically detecting the axon reporter in the axon or dendrites. Neuronal specific expression may also be effected in disclosed binary systems.

Gene trap vectors

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Kevin J Mitchell