Neuronal expression of the ERM-like protein MIR in rat brain and its localization to human chromosome 6.

The ERM proteins, ezrin, radixin, and moesin, regulate cell motility by linking cortical F-actin to the plasma membrane in different cell types. Myosin regulatory light chain interacting protein (MIR) is a recently cloned ERM-like protein which was shown to be involved in neurite outgrowth. Here we have studied the occurrence and expression of MIR in rats during brain development. As shown using Western blotting, MIR is present in different regions both in developing and adult brain. Immunohistochemistry and double labelling studies showed that MIR is localized especially to neurons in hippocampus and cerebellum. A search using the gene bank showed that the MIR gene localised to human chromosome 6 in the interval 6p22.3-23, the loss of which is characterized by mental retardation and different malformations in man. The presence of MIR in brain neurons during development together with its known effects on neurite outgrowth suggest an important function of the protein in the regulation of nerve cell motility and cytoskeletal interactions.