The project is to follow up on prior yeast two hybrid studies that identified proteins that interact with the NF2 protein. The PI intends co-immunoprecipitations will explore the domains involved in the protein interactions using truncated NF2 constructs and will clone and identify the full length genes encoding the interacting proteins. Then, he will prepare antibodies against these NF2 binding proteins in order to explore their localizations. How will use immortalized Schwann cells to explore the functional attributes of the binding proteins by antisense. He will examine the effects of various naturally occurring NF2 mutations on the interactions. Finally, he will determine the chromosomal localizations of the binding proteins by FISH.
