Disease relevance of NXPH1

• When expressed in pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells with a replication-deficient adenovirus, neurexophilin 1 was rapidly N-glycosylated and then slowly processed to a smaller mature form, probably by endoproteolytic cleavage [1].
• However, homozygous mutant mice exhibit male sterility, probably because homologous recombination resulted in the co-insertion into the neurexophilin gene of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase, which is known to cause male sterility [2].
• Our findings demonstrate that functional NPH-1 is required, at least in part, for resistance of vaccinia virus to IFN [3].

High impact information on NXPH1

• A novel flavoprotein, NPH1, is also implicated in plant phototropism [4].
• Together our data suggest that neurexophilin constitutes a secreted glycoprotein that is synthesized in a subclass of neurons and may be a ligand for neurexins [5].
• RNA blots and in situ hybridizations revealed that neurexophilin is expressed in adult rat brain at high levels only in a scattered subpopulation of neurons that probably represent inhibitory interneurons; by contrast, neurexins are expressed in all neurons [5].
• The search might be over, however, as two photoreceptors, phytochrome and NPH1, have been shown to autophosphorylate in a light-dependent fashion [6].
• Sensitivity of ts36 to IFN was only the consequence of the point mutation in the NPH-1 gene, as shown by characterization of the rescued virus, R36 [3].

References