Reelin is a large extracellular glycoprotein involved in the development of architectonic patterns, particularly in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, where primarily Cajal-Retzius cells synthesize it. In the hippocampus, Reelin also regulates the growth and/or distribution of afferent entorhinal and commissural axons (Ref.1). Reelin encodes an mRNA of approximately 12 kb. Reelin mRNA encodes a large extracellular glyco-protein containing eight repeated sequences that include EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor) -like cysteine motifs (Ref.2).
At the surface of target cells, Reelin binds to two lipoprotein receptors, VLDLR (Very-Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor) and ApoER2 (Apolipoprotein-E Receptor-2), which relay the signal into the cell via the adapter Dab1 (Disabled-1). Binding requires calcium, and it is inhibited in the presence of ApoE (Apolipoprotein-E). Dab1 is an intracellular adapter protein, which encodes a cytoplasmic protein containing a [...]