Prediction Of The Signalling Pathway Of Synaptic Cell Adhesion Molecules Mediating Early Synapse Formation Based On Bioinformatics

Synapses are cellular junctions through which neurons communicate with each other rapidly.Synapses connect neurons into neural circuits that give rise to behaviour and cognition.Furthermore,the aberration of synapse formation and development is associated with many neurologic and psychiatric disorders.Thus,understanding the basis of synapse formation is of significant scientific and clinical value.Multiple trans-membrane signalling pathways mediated by synaptic cell adhesion molecules(CAMs)regulate early synapse formation and development,yet it is not completely clear how the intracellular pathways are transduced.Here using Neurexins,Neuroligins,and LAR-type RPTPs as examples and single-cell RNA-seq data of prenatal human cortex,we screened protein candidates ANK2,KIF1 A,ARHGEF9,CDC42,ROCK1,WASL,RAP1 GAP,GAP43,APP,MAPK8,DLG2,DUSP4 and Rho GTPases,and JNK MAPK signalling pathway by constructing protein-protein interaction(PPI)networks based on co-expression analysis and PPI database.In addition,we inferred transcription factors POU3F3,POU3F2,NEUROD6,PRDM8,PRDM2,which may regulate the expression of synaptic CAMs during early synapse formation.Our study implies that Rho GTPases and JNK MAPK may be important intracellular signalling pathways by which using Neurexins,Neuroligins,and LARtype RPTPs mediate synapse formation.These findings provide insights into further investigation of the molecular basis of synapse formation by synaptic CAMs.