Fig. 1

Model of synaptic nectin-3 and nectin-1 interactions and their expression in upper layers of cortex. a Nectin-1 and nectin-3 have been shown to bind at puncta adherentia junctions (PAJs) in hippocampus and interact with actin secondarily through their binding partner afadin [11, 26, 27]. Nectin and afadin have also been shown to associate with the N-cadherin/catenin complex at PAJs [11, 26,27,28,29,30]. Synaptic PAJs are stabilizing sites of adhesion between axons and dendrites and are distinct from synaptic junctions, which are the sites of neurotransmission [11, 27]. b In situ hybridizations (ISH) to nectin-3 and nectin-1 showing specific hippocampal and cortical expression patterns at P16. Both nectins demonstrate enriched expression in upper cortical layer neurons in V1 (2.5x objective, scale bar = 1 mm). c Nectin-3 expression is L2/3 specific as early as E18.5 (scale bar = 395 μm, image credit: Allen Brain Institute). d Nectin-3 expression is upper layer specific before (P12) and after (P16) eye opening and at the close of the critical period for ODP (P35) (scale bar = 200 μm)