Knowing why an organism chooses to edit a specific adenosine within an mRNA is fundamental for truly understanding the editing event. As a first step, having a detailed understanding of how the edit alters protein function is critical. The authors acknowledge support by the National Institutes of Health R01 NS064259NIH and RCMI G12 RR 03051 for J.J.C.R. and the Max Planck Society for P.H.S. “
“Many

developmental processes are dependent on endocytosis, endosomal recycling, and degradation (Shilo and Schejter, 2011), and the endocytic machinery has been shown to click here be important in a number of neurodevelopmental processes. Given the importance of endocytosis for essential housekeeping functions, this comes as no surprise. Further, the

integration of a large number of receptor systems is critical for directing cell behavior during neural development. Clearly, which receptors are present where, when, at what levels, and for how long will determine the outcome of these various signaling events. Endocytosis at its most fundamental influences just that, the temporal and spatial distribution of membrane receptors. The details of endosomal regulation of nervous system development, including initial cell check details fate decisions, neuronal polarity, neuronal migration, and axon outgrowth and guidance, are increasingly being uncovered (Sann et al., 2009). In this review, we begin by introducing some Dichloromethane dehalogenase of the basic cell biology of endocytosis and endosomal trafficking and then discuss neuronal-specific adaptations to the endosomal system. Finally, we will emphasize the tricks

of the endosome that are utilized during neural development to organize, regulate, and orchestrate the myriad of ligand-receptor based signaling systems that play parts in building the nervous system. As it is not possible to provide a fully comprehensive review of endocytic and endosomal roles in neural development, we focus on recent cases where mechanistic insights into the regulatory roles of endocytosis and endosomal trafficking have been discovered. All cells are capable of internalizing molecules from the extracellular environment by endocytosis (reviewed in Doherty and McMahon, 2009, Kelly and Owen, 2011, Mellman, 1996 and Mukherjee et al., 1997). Cells internalize molecules via several distinct endocytic entry routes, including the well-described clathrin-mediated pathway and less well understood clathrin-independent mechanisms (for excellent reviews, see Conner and Schmid, 2003, Doherty and McMahon, 2009, Ewers and Helenius, 2011 and Sandvig et al., 2011). Clathrin-mediated endocytosis is often referred to as “receptor-mediated endocytosis” because it is initiated by membrane receptors that bind to and recruit adaptor complexes (AP-2 in particular) and clathrin. Other endocytic pathways can be receptor mediated, but are not necessarily clathrin dependent.