Synaptic activation causes the mRNA for the IEG Arc to localize selectively near activated postsynaptic sites on dendrites.

By O. Steward, C. S. Wallace, G. Lyford, P. Worley. 1998

Polyribosomal complexes beneath postsynaptic sites on dendrites provide a substrate for local translation of particular mRNAs, but the signals that target mRNAs to synapses remain to be defined. Here, we report that high frequency activation of the perforant path projections to the dentate gyrus causes newly synthesized mRNA for the immediate-early gene (IEG) Arc to localize selectively in activated dendritic segments. Newly synthesized Arc protein also accumulates in the portion of the dendrite that had been synaptically activated. The targeting of Arc mRNA was not disrupted by locally inhibiting protein synthesis, indicating that the signals for mRNA localization reside in the mRNA itself. This novel mechanism through which newly synthesized mRNA is precisely targeted to activated synapses is well suited to play a role in the enduring forms of activity-dependent synaptic modification that require protein synthesis.

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

1. Š. Kubík
2. Kenneth S. Kosik
3. E. Schuman
4. Teiko Miyashita
5. S. Ying
6. O. Steward
7. C. Holt
8. Sara N. Burke

Citations in the corpus

• Inhibition of Activity-Dependent Arc Protein Expression in the Rat Hippocampus Impairs the Maintenance of Long-Term Potentiation and the Consolidation of Long-Term Memory (2000, background): “synaptic stimulation (Steward et al., 1998).”
• Experience-Dependent Gene Expression in the Rat Hippocampus after Spatial Learning: A Comparison of the Immediate-Early GenesArc, c-fos, and zif268 (2001, background): “Furthermore, the dendritic localization of Arc RNA and protein can be regulated by synaptic activity ( Steward et al., 1998 ).”
• The neuronal microRNA system (2006, background): “High-frequency activation of the perforant path projections to the dentate gyrus causes newly synthesized Arc mRNA to localize selectively in activated dendritic segment”
• Spatially restricting gene expression by local translation at synapses (2010, unknown): “Arc is encoded by an immediate early gene whose mRNA is rapidly transported into dendrites [59].”
• The Central Dogma Decentralized: New Perspectives on RNA Function and Local Translation in Neurons (2013, background): “Subsequent studies demonstrated that specific subsets of mRNAs localize to synaptic sites (Steward et al., 1998) and directly linked synaptic plasticity with local translation in dendrites (Aakalu et al., 2001; Huber et al., 2000; Kang andSchuman, 1996;Martin et al., 1997; Vickers et al., 2005),…”
• Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Induces Long-Term Potentiation in Intact Adult Hippocampus: Requirement for ERK Activation Coupled to CREB and Upregulation of Arc Synthesis (2002, methodology): “HFS-LTP is associated with the induction of calcium-regulated immediate early genes encoding Arc and Zif268 (Cole et al., 1989; Wisden et al., 1990; Link et al., 1995; Lyford et al., 1995).”
• Neural plasticity in the ageing brain (2006, background): “After transcription, Arc mRNA localizes selectively to the region of the dendrite that receives the synaptic input that initiated transcriptio”
• Hippocampal LTP is accompanied by enhanced F-actin content within the dendritic spine that is essential for late LTP maintenance in vivo. (2003, unknown): “Ten cryo-sections from each animal (coronal cut at 20 m (Steward et al., 1998).”
• Selective targeting of newly synthesized Arc mRNA to active synapses requires NMDA receptor activation. (2001, background): “…lamina.is rapidly delivered into dendrites based on a targeting signal in the mRNA sequence (Wallace et al., 1998), and that the mRNA localizes selectively at recently-active The Enabling Role of AMPA Receptors Blockade of fast synaptic transmission by AMPA-recep-synapses (Steward et al., 1998).”
• BDNF-induced local protein synthesis and synaptic plasticity. (2014, unknown): “Arc is a postsynaptic protein encoded by a gene belonging to the class of immediate-early genes (IEGs), which are rapidly and transiently transcribed in response to synaptic activity (Link et al., 1995; Steward et al., 1998), playing an important role in synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus [revie”