Figure 4.

Expression of nitzin, a band 4.1 protein family member, is associated with AS-ACHE neuritogenesis. (A) Sequence alignment. Partial amino acid sequences from mouse band 4.1, human moesin, rat nitzin, and the corresponding human expressed sequence tag homolog to nitzin. Band 4.1 family consensus sequences are marked in red, ERM consensus sequences in blue, and nitzin/expressed sequence tag homologous residues in green. Band 4.1 signature no. 2 in sequence blocks 3 and 4 are marked by red brackets, and ERM family motifs IV and V are enclosed in blue boxes. (B) Transcriptional modulations. Nitzin mRNA levels were evaluated by RT-PCR in naive and NGF-differentiated PC12 and AS-ACHE cells, and in AS-ACHE cells transfected with a control plasmid (AS + ctrl), or plasmids encoding AChE-E6 (AS + E6), catalytically inactivated AChE (AS + In) or neuroligin-1 (AS + Nrl) as in Fig. 3. Samples were removed as described in the Fig. 3 legend. Note the pronounced expression of nitzin in AS-ACHE but not PC12 cells, its suppression under NGF, and the neuritogenic-associated increases in rescued AS-ACHE cells, under conditions in which actin mRNA levels remained unchanged.