On August 26, 2009, a research paper entitled "MSC p43 Required for Axonal Development in Motor Neurons" from Dr. Jiawei Zhou's laboratory at the Institute of Neuroscience, was published online in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. This study was carried out by Xiaodong Zhu, Yang Liu, Yanqing Yin and colleagues.

Motor neurons in the spinal cord are critical for movement control and other physiological activities. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their development are not fully understood. In this study, the authors showed that multisynthetase complex p43 (MSC p43), a cofactor of the protein translational machinery, is required for axon development in motor neurons of the spinal cord. The MSC p43 protein interacted with neurofilament light subunit (NF-L), a core component of the cytoskeletal neurofilament network in neurons. Functional analysis on mice lacking MSC p43 revealed that MSC p43 was essential for neurofilament network assembly and motor axon maintenance. Mechanistically, MSC p43 was required for maintaining the normal phosphorylation level of neurofilament proteins. Thus, MSC p43 is indispensable in maintaining axonal integrity. Its dysfunction may underlie the NF network disorganization and axon degeneration associated with motor neuron degenerative diseases.