Members of the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor(GDNF) family including GDNF and neurturin (NTN) play essential roles in the control of vertebrate neuron survival and differentiation. A new member of the GDNF family was recently identified and designated persephin. Physiological responses to these neurotrophic factors require two receptor subunits, the novel glycosylphosphadidylinositol linked protein GFRa and Ret receptor tyrosine kinase GFRb. Following the findings of GFRa-1 and -2, a novel receptor in GFRa family was identified very recently from human and mouse and designated GFRa-3. GFRa-3 binds persephin, thus, persephin, GFRa-3, and Ret PTK form a complex to transduce persephin signal and to mediate persephin function.

 This product was previously labelled as GFR alpha 3