Structures of neurexophilin-neurexin complexes reveal a regulatory mechanism of alternative splicing.

Neurexins are presynaptic, cell-adhesion molecules that specify the functional properties of synapses via interactions with trans-synaptic ligands. Neurexins are extensively alternatively spliced at six canonical sites that regulate multifarious ligand interactions, but the structural mechanisms underlying alternative splicing-dependent neurexin regulation are largely unknown. Here, we determined high-resolution structures of the complex of neurexophilin-1 and the second laminin/neurexin/sex-hormone-binding globulin domain (LNS2) of neurexin-1 and examined how alternative splicing at splice site #2 (SS2) regulates the complex.