EphAs are a family of receptor tyrosine kinases that are involved in axonal guidance during development. These receptors and their ligands, the ephrins, act via repulsive mechanisms to guide growing axons towards their appropriate targets and allow for the correct developmental connections to be made. Ligand binding to an Eph receptor results in tyrosine phosphorylation of the kinase domain, and repulsion of axonal growth cones and migrating cells.Three different EphA7 splice variants, a full-length form and two truncated versions lacking kinase domains, are expressed in the neural folds.