The role of the Aspm (Abnormal spindle microcephaly-associated) protein in symmetric versus asymmetric division of polarized neuroepithelial cells.

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Neuroepithelial cells, which give rise to all neurons of the mammalian central nervous system, do so by switching from symmetric, proliferative to asymmetric, neuron-generating division. The cell biological basis of this switch is unknown. However, extrapolating from the results of classical studies in Drosophila, the apical-basal polarity of mammalian neuroepithelial cells is likely to be of key importance for their asymmetric division. However, for mammalian neuroepithelial cells, very little is known about proteins of apical plasma membrane and their association with specific, cholesterol-based membrane microdomains, which in non-neural model cells have been shown to be crucial for signal transduction. It is therefore proposed to (i) identify apical plasma membrane proteins of mouse neuroepithelial cells, (ii) characterize their association with specific lipid microdomains using novel tools developed in our group, and (iii) investigate the regulation of these proteins and their association with lipid microdomains as neuroepithelial cells switch from symmetric, proliferative to asymmetric, neuron-generating division.