Mutation of Kinesin-6 Kif20b causes defects in cortical neuron polarization and morphogenesis

How neurons change their cytoskeleton to adopt their complex polarized morphology is still not understood. Growing evidence suggests that proteins that help build microtubule structures during cell division are also involved in building and remodeling the complex cytoskeletons of neurons. Kif20b (previously called MPP1 or Mphosph1) is the most divergent member of the Kinesin-6 family of “mitotic” kinesins that also includes Kif23/MKLP1 and Kif20a/MKLP2. We previously isolated a loss-of-function mouse mutant of Kif20b and showed that it had a thalamocortical axon guidance defect and microcephaly