AP-1 functions upstream of CREB to control synaptic plasticity in Drosophila

Subhabrata Sanyal, David J. Sandstrom, Charles A. Hoeffer and Mani Ramaswami ()
Additional contact information
Subhabrata Sanyal: University of Arizona
David J. Sandstrom: University of Arizona
Charles A. Hoeffer: University of Arizona
Mani Ramaswami: University of Arizona

Nature, 2002, vol. 416, issue 6883, 870-874

Abstract: Abstract Activity-regulated gene expression mediates many aspects of neural plasticity, including long-term memory. In the prevailing view, patterned synaptic activity causes kinase-mediated activation of the transcription factor cyclic AMP response-element-binding protein, CREB. Together with appropriate cofactors, CREB then transcriptionally induces a group of ‘immediate–early’ transcription factors and, eventually, effector proteins that establish or consolidate synaptic change1. Here, using a Drosophila model synapse, we analyse cellular functions and regulation of the best known immediate–early transcription factor, AP-1; a heterodimer of the basic leucine zipper proteins Fos and Jun2. We observe that AP-1 positively regulates both synaptic strength and synapse number, thus showing a greater range of influence than CREB3. Observations from genetic epistasis and RNA quantification experiments indicate that AP-1 acts upstream of CREB, regulates levels of CREB messenger RNA, and functions at the top of the hierarchy of transcription factors known to regulate long-term plasticity. A Jun-kinase signalling module provides a CREB-independent route for neuronal AP-1 activation; thus, CREB regulation of AP-1 expression4 may, in some neurons, constitute a positive feedback loop rather than the primary step in AP-1 activation.

Date: 2002
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/416870a Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:416:y:2002:i:6883:d:10.1038_416870a

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/416870a

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().