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. 2014 Nov 5;289(51):35517–35529. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M114.587709

FIGURE 7.

FIGURE 7.

X11α overexpression reduces dendritic spine size in cultured cortical neurons. A, co-expression of X11α reduces kalirin-7-dependent Rac1 activation in HEK293 cells. HEK293 cells were transfected with plasmids expressing kalirin-7 kalirin-7-ΔCT, and X11α alone or together; Rac1-GTP was measured using an affinity binding assay. Expression of kalirin-7 or kalirin-7-ΔCT alone resulted in an increase in active Rac1 levels. However, in the presence of X11α, kalirin-7 was no longer able to increase Rac1-GTP levels. Inhibition of kalirin-7-dependent Rac activation by X11α requires the C terminus of kalirin-7 as kalirin-7-ΔCT-induced Rac1 activation was not altered by expression of X11α. B, quantification of Rac1-GTP levels from A. C, representative confocal image of cortical neuron (DIV 24) co-expressing GFP with or without pRK5-X11α. X11α overexpression reduces dendritic spine size in cortical neurons. D and E, quantification of dendritic spine linear density (D) and mean dendritic spine area (E) in neurons expressing GFP or GFP + X11α. *, p < 0.05. Scale bar, 5 μm.