Cross-talk between intrinsic and extrinsic factors in importin a3 mutant mice

During development there are several cues that determine the growth-rate of a neuron and the axonal determination of path-finding. Previous work in Marvaldi et al., 2020 showed that importin a3 is responsible for reducing pain upon injury and the mechanism of action is dependent of c-FOS protein. RNAseq data from embryonic DRG tissue (E13.5) followed by informatic analysis showed that c-FOS transcription factor has been enriched in our dataset. Our aim is to validate this data and understand the role of c-FOS during development in axonal path-finding. Do importin a3 and c-FOS inhibition act similarly on the phenotypical changes in peripheral cells (sensory neurons and Schwann cells)? Particularly, Inhibition of importin a3 or c-FOS makes changes in the nerve endings of the E13.5 paw. Why this is the case? Using neuronal-glia co-culture in E13.5 will highlight the grow and survival in both cell type with importin a3 and c-FOS inhibition. Finally, we will unravel if modulating intrinsic factors (importin a3 or c-FOS) or extrinsic factors (neurotrophins) will make changes in growth and survival of neurons and glia cells.