1. The Role of Functional Prion-Like Proteins in the Persistence of Memory.
- Author
-
Si K and Kandel ER
- Subjects
- Animals, Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein metabolism, Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein physiology, Drosophila metabolism, Drosophila physiology, Drosophila Proteins analysis, Drosophila Proteins chemistry, Drosophila Proteins physiology, Hippocampus metabolism, Prion Proteins analysis, Prion Proteins metabolism, Protein Biosynthesis, Sumoylation, Synapses metabolism, Transcription Factors analysis, Transcription Factors chemistry, Ubiquitination, mRNA Cleavage and Polyadenylation Factors analysis, mRNA Cleavage and Polyadenylation Factors chemistry, Memory physiology, Models, Biological, Prion Proteins physiology, Transcription Factors physiology, mRNA Cleavage and Polyadenylation Factors physiology
- Abstract
Prions are a self-templating amyloidogenic state of normal cellular proteins, such as prion protein (PrP). They have been identified as the pathogenic agents, contributing to a number of diseases of the nervous system. However, the discovery that the neuronal RNA-binding protein, cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding protein (CPEB), has a prion-like state that is involved in the stabilization of memory raised the possibility that prion-like proteins can serve normal physiological functions in the nervous system. Here, we review recent experimental evidence of prion-like properties of neuronal CPEB in various organisms and propose a model of how the prion-like state may stabilize memory., (Copyright © 2016 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2016
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