NAV2 explained

Neuron navigator 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NAV2 gene.^{[1] [2] [3]} The vitamin A metabolite, all-trans retinoic acid (atRA), plays an important role in neuronal development, including neurite outgrowth. NAV2 is an atRA-responsive gene.^[3]

The neuron navigator, Is also theorized to play a role in cellular growth and migration.^[4] In addition, different isoform variants have been discovered for this gene. Connections have been drawn to Nav2 having an association with human neurocognitive disorders Alzheimer's disease and age-related phenotypes. It has been discussed that future studies of Nav2 could provide crucial information in understanding the pathophysiology of the disease and its related phenotypes.

NAV2 association

The NAV2 gene, which is extensively expressed in the brain and  is important to nervous system development, may play a role in Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is a chronic neurological illness whose prevalence rises rapidly as people reach the age of 65. According to reports, Alzheimer's disease is one of the top ten main causes of death in the United States.There are 50 introns and 38 exons in the neuron navigator 2 (NAV2) gene.^[5] The NAV2 gene was shown to be strongly expressed in the brain, as well as the kidney, liver, thyroid, mammary gland, and spinal cord (and may be involved in cell proliferation, migration, and nervous system development).^[5] NAV2 has recently been linked to episodic memory scores in Alzheimer's patients.To date, no study has looked into the link between the NAV2 gene and the risk or AAO of Alzheimer's disease.^[5] NAV2 may be one of the processes linking blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative disorders, according to this study. NAV2 was found to be overexpressed in human colorectal cancer in another gene expression analysis, suggesting that it could be used as a predictive biomarker as well as a possible therapeutic target for colorectal cancer. However, the conducted study may have some limitations, so more research is needed to adequately understand the purpose of NAV2.^[5]

Further reading

• Nakajima D, Okazaki N, Yamakawa H, etal . Construction of expression-ready cDNA clones for KIAA genes: manual curation of 330 KIAA cDNA clones . DNA Res. . 9 . 3 . 99–106 . 2003 . 12168954 . 10.1093/dnares/9.3.99 . free. none .
  • Hillier LD, Lennon G, Becker M, etal . Generation and analysis of 280,000 human expressed sequence tags . Genome Res. . 6 . 9 . 807–28 . 1997 . 8889549 . 10.1101/gr.6.9.807 . free . none.
• Nagase T, Kikuno R, Ishikawa KI, etal . Prediction of the coding sequences of unidentified human genes. XVI. The complete sequences of 150 new cDNA clones from brain which code for large proteins in vitro . DNA Res. . 7 . 1 . 65–73 . 2000 . 10718198 . 10.1093/dnares/7.1.65 . free . none.
• Dias Neto E, Correa RG, Verjovski-Almeida S, etal . Shotgun sequencing of the human transcriptome with ORF expressed sequence tags . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 97 . 7 . 3491–6 . 2000 . 10737800 . 10.1073/pnas.97.7.3491 . 16267 . 2000PNAS...97.3491D . free . none.
• Merrill RA, Plum LA, Kaiser ME, Clagett-Dame M . A mammalian homolog of unc-53 is regulated by all-trans retinoic acid in neuroblastoma cells and embryos . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 99 . 6 . 3422–7 . 2002 . 11904404 . 10.1073/pnas.052017399 . 122539 . 2002PNAS...99.3422M . free . none.
• Ishiguro H, Shimokawa T, Tsunoda T, etal . Isolation of HELAD1, a novel human helicase gene up-regulated in colorectal carcinomas . Oncogene . 21 . 41 . 6387–94 . 2002 . 12214280 . 10.1038/sj.onc.1205751 . 20205673 . none.
• Strausberg RL, Feingold EA, Grouse LH, etal . Generation and initial analysis of more than 15,000 full-length human and mouse cDNA sequences . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 99 . 26 . 16899–903 . 2003 . 12477932 . 10.1073/pnas.242603899 . 139241 . 2002PNAS...9916899M . free . none.
• Ota T, Suzuki Y, Nishikawa T, etal . Complete sequencing and characterization of 21,243 full-length human cDNAs . Nat. Genet. . 36 . 1 . 40–5 . 2004 . 14702039 . 10.1038/ng1285 . free . none.
• Mitin NY, Ramocki MB, Zullo AJ, etal . Identification and characterization of rain, a novel Ras-interacting protein with a unique subcellular localization . J. Biol. Chem. . 279 . 21 . 22353–61 . 2004 . 15031288 . 10.1074/jbc.M312867200 . free . none.
• Tsutsumi S, Kamata N, Vokes TJ, etal . The Novel Gene Encoding a Putative Transmembrane Protein Is Mutated in Gnathodiaphyseal Dysplasia (GDD) . Am. J. Hum. Genet. . 74 . 6 . 1255–61 . 2004 . 15124103 . 10.1086/421527 . 1182089 . none.
• Peeters PJ, Baker A, Goris I, etal . Sensory deficits in mice hypomorphic for a mammalian homologue of unc-53 . Brain Res. Dev. Brain Res. . 150 . 2 . 89–101 . 2004 . 15158073 . 10.1016/j.devbrainres.2004.03.004 . none.
• Gerhard DS, Wagner L, Feingold EA, etal . The Status, Quality, and Expansion of the NIH Full-Length cDNA Project: The Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) . Genome Res. . 14 . 10B . 2121–7 . 2004 . 15489334 . 10.1101/gr.2596504 . 528928 . none.
• Rual JF, Venkatesan K, Hao T, etal . Towards a proteome-scale map of the human protein-protein interaction network . Nature . 437 . 7062 . 1173–8 . 2005 . 16189514 . 10.1038/nature04209 . 2005Natur.437.1173R . 4427026 . none.
• Beausoleil SA, Villén J, Gerber SA, etal . A probability-based approach for high-throughput protein phosphorylation analysis and site localization . Nat. Biotechnol. . 24 . 10 . 1285–92 . 2006 . 16964243 . 10.1038/nbt1240 . 14294292 . none.
• Olsen JV, Blagoev B, Gnad F, etal . Global, in vivo, and site-specific phosphorylation dynamics in signaling networks . Cell . 127 . 3 . 635–48 . 2006 . 17081983 . 10.1016/j.cell.2006.09.026 . 7827573 . free . none.

Notes and References

1. Maes T, Barcelo A, Buesa C . Neuron navigator: a human gene family with homology to unc-53, a cell guidance gene from Caenorhabditis elegans . Genomics . 80 . 1 . 21–30 . Jun 2002 . 12079279 . 10.1006/geno.2002.6799 .
2. Coy JF, Wiemann S, Bechmann I, Bachner D, Nitsch R, Kretz O, Christiansen H, Poustka A . Pore membrane and/or filament interacting like protein 1 (POMFIL1) is predominantly expressed in the nervous system and encodes different protein isoforms . Gene . 290 . 1–2 . 73–94 . Jun 2002 . 12062803 . 10.1016/S0378-1119(02)00567-X .
3. Web site: Entrez Gene: NAV2 neuron navigator 2.
4. Web site: NAV2 neuron navigator 2 [Homo sapiens (human)] - Gene - NCBI ]. 2022-05-05 . www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
5. Wang . Ke-Sheng . Liu . Ying . Xu . Chun . Liu . Xuefeng . Luo . Xingguang . 2017-09-15 . Family-based association analysis of NAV2 gene with the risk and age at onset of Alzheimer's disease . Journal of Neuroimmunology . 310 . 60–65 . 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2017.06.010 . 0165-5728 . 6167010 . 28778446.