Proteomic identification of the molecular basis of mammalian CNS growth cones

• This review clarifies the whole profiles of the mammalian CNS growth cone.
• I refer to the strategy of the proteomics to identify the growth cone proteins.
• I characterize the novel functional markers of growth cones, revealed by proteomics.
• I explain the putative functions of the major growth cone proteins.
• Using these approaches, I decipher the feasible signaling pathways in growth cones.

The growth cone, which is a unique structure with high motility that forms at the tips of extending axons and dendrites, is crucial to neuronal network formation. Axonal growth of the mammalian CNS is most likely achieved by the complicated coordination of cytoskeletal rearrangement and vesicular trafficking via many proteins. Before recent advances, no methods to identify numerous proteins existed; however, proteomics revolutionarily resolved such problems. In this review, I summarize the profiles of the mammalian growth cone proteins revealed by proteomics as the molecular basis of the growth cone functions, with molecular mapping. These results should be used as a basis for understanding the mechanisms of the complex mammalian CNS developmental process.