Isolation and expression pattern of three mouse homologues of chick Rgm.

Growth cones of developing neurons are guided to their targets by attractive and repulsive cues. We have isolated three mouse homologues of the chick 'repulsive guidance molecule', Rgm [Nature 419 (2002) 392], and characterized their expression patterns. RgmA and RgmB are predominantly expressed in the developing and adult central nervous system in distinct patterns with little overlap. The third member of the Rgm gene family, RgmC, shows exclusive expression in the muscle cell lineage. From sequence and expression data, we suggest RgmA to be the mouse orthologue of chick Rgm.