Ephrin signalling in the developing nervous system

•Structure-function analyses of multimerisation and ligand specific-function of Eph receptors.•Insights into modalities of ephrin:Eph signalling and its intersection with other pathways in axon guidance.•Ephrin signalling in dendrite morphogenesis and synaptic plasticity.•Topographic map development models.•Axon-axon interactions.

Ephrin ligands and their Eph receptors hold our attention since their link to axon guidance almost twenty years ago. Since then, they have been shown to be critical for short distance cell-cell interactions in the nervous system. The interest in their function has not abated, leading to ever-more sophisticated studies generating as many surprising answers about their function as new questions. We discuss recent insights into their functions in the developing nervous system, including neuronal progenitor sorting, stochastic cell migration, guidance of neuronal growth cones, topographic map formation, as well as synaptic plasticity.