Nigrostriatal overabundance of α-synuclein leads to decreased vesicle density and deficits in dopamine release that correlate with reduced motor activity

α-Synuclein (α-syn) is a presynaptic protein present at most nerve terminals, but its function remains largely unknown. The familial forms of Parkinson's disease associated with multiplications of the α-syn gene locus indicate that overabundance of this protein might have a detrimental effect on dopaminergic transmission. To investigate this hypothesis, we use adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors to overexpress human α-syn in the rat substantia nigra. Moderate overexpression of either wild-type (WT) or A30P α-syn differs in the motor phenotypes induced, with only the WT form generating hemiparkinsonian impairments. Wild-type α-syn causes a reduction of dopamine release in the striatum that exceeds the loss of dopaminergic neurons, axonal fibers, and the reduction in total dopamine. At the ultrastructural level, the reduced dopamine release corresponds to a decreased density of dopaminergic vesicles and synaptic contacts in striatal terminals. Interestingly, the membrane-binding-deficient A30P mutant does neither notably reduce dopamine release nor it cause ultrastructural changes in dopaminergic axons, showing that α-syn's membrane-binding properties are critically involved in the presynaptic defects. To further determine if the affinity of the protein for membranes determines the extent of motor defects, we compare three forms of α-syn in conditions leading to pronounced degeneration. While membrane-binding α-syns (wild-type and A53T) induce severe motor impairments, an N-terminal deleted form with attenuated affinity for membranes is inefficient in inducing motor defects. Overall, these results demonstrate that α-syn overabundance is detrimental to dopamine neurotransmission at early stages of the degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic axon

Nigrostriatal overabundance of alpha-synuclein leads to decreased vesicle density and deficits in dopamine release that correlate with reduced motor activity

alpha-Synuclein (alpha-syn) is a presynaptic protein present at most nerve terminals, but its function remains largely unknown. The familial forms of Parkinson's disease associated with multiplications of the alpha-syn gene locus indicate that overabundance of this protein might have a detrimental effect on dopaminergic transmission. To investigate this hypothesis, we use adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors to overexpress human alpha-syn in the rat substantia nigra. Moderate overexpression of either wild-type (WT) or A30P alpha-syn differs in the motor phenotypes induced, with only the WT form generating hemiparkinsonian impairments. Wild-type alpha-syn causes a reduction of dopamine release in the striatum that exceeds the loss of dopaminergic neurons, axonal fibers, and the reduction in total dopamine. At the ultrastructural level, the reduced dopamine release corresponds to a decreased density of dopaminergic vesicles and synaptic contacts in striatal terminals. Interestingly, the membrane-binding-deficient A30P mutant does neither notably reduce dopamine release nor it cause ultrastructural changes in dopaminergic axons, showing that alpha-syn's membrane-binding properties are critically involved in the presynaptic defects. To further determine if the affinity of the protein for membranes determines the extent of motor defects, we compare three forms of alpha-syn in conditions leading to pronounced degeneration. While membrane-binding alpha-syns (wild-type and A53T) induce severe motor impairments, an N-terminal deleted form with attenuated affinity for membranes is inefficient in inducing motor defects. Overall, these results demonstrate that alpha-syn overabundance is detrimental to dopamine neurotransmission at early stages of the degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic axons

Identification of Combinatorial Patterns of Post-Translational Modifications on Individual Histones in the Mouse Brain

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins are biochemical processes required for cellular functions and signalling that occur in every sub-cellular compartment. Multiple protein PTMs exist, and are established by specific enzymes that can act in basal conditions and upon cellular activity. In the nucleus, histone proteins are subjected to numerous PTMs that together form a histone code that contributes to regulate transcriptional activity and gene expression. Despite their importance however, histone PTMs have remained poorly characterised in most tissues, in particular the brain where they are thought to be required for complex functions such as learning and memory formation. Here, we report the comprehensive identification of histone PTMs, of their combinatorial patterns, and of the rules that govern these patterns in the adult mouse brain. Based on liquid chromatography, electron transfer, and collision-induced dissociation mass spectrometry, we generated a dataset containing a total of 10,646 peptides from H1, H2A, H2B, H3, H4, and variants in the adult brain. 1475 of these peptides carried one or more PTMs, including 141 unique sites and a total of 58 novel sites not described before. We observed that these PTMs are not only classical modifications such as serine/threonine (Ser/Thr) phosphorylation, lysine (Lys) acetylation, and Lys/arginine (Arg) methylation, but also include several atypical modifications such as Ser/Thr acetylation, and Lys butyrylation, crotonylation, and propionylation. Using synthetic peptides, we validated the presence of these atypical novel PTMs in the mouse brain. The application of data-mining algorithms further revealed that histone PTMs occur in specific combinations with different ratios. Overall, the present data newly identify a specific histone code in the mouse brain and reveal its level of complexity, suggesting its potential relevance for higher-order brain functions

The memory gene KIBRA is a bidirectional regulator of synaptic and structural plasticity in the adult brain

Memory formation is associated with activity-dependent changes in synaptic plasticity. The mechanisms underlying these processes are complex and involve multiple components. Recent work has implicated the protein KIBRA in human memory, but its molecular functions in memory processes remain not fully understood. Here, we show that a selective overexpression of KIBRA in neurons increases hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) but prevents the induction of long-term depression (LTD), and impairs spatial long-term memory in adult mice. KIBRA overexpression increases the constitutive recycling of AMPA receptors containing GluA1 (GluA1-AMPARs), and favors their activity-dependent surface expression. It also results in dramatic dendritic rearrangements in pyramidal neurons both in vitro and in vivo. KIBRA knockdown in contrast, abolishes LTP, decreases GluA1-AMPARs recycling and reduces dendritic arborization. These results establish KIBRA as a novel bidirectional regulator of synaptic and structural plasticity in hippocampal neurons, and of long-term memory, highly relevant to cognitive processes and their pathologies

Summary of overrepresented motifs at PTM sites.

<p>A total of ten motifs were detected, flanking either acetylation, methylation or phosphorylation sites. For each motif, bibliographic references for the same or similar motifs are listed, as well as whether it is known to function as a binding motif. Unknown motifs were novel at the time of writing. Many of the identified motifs are novel and distinct from human motifs in the human protein reference database (HPRD). In support of our dataset many of the sites also matched known motifs for the enzymes that catalyse these PTMs, and/or known binding motifs that require modified residues.</p

All novel histone PTMs.

<p>Summary of all novel PTMs identified on H1 (<b>A</b>), H2A (<b>B</b>), H2B (<b>C</b>), H3 (<b>D</b>) <b>and H4</b> (<b>E</b>). Sites of PTMs are indicated by A for acetylation, B for butyrylation, Cr for crotonylation, Me1, Me2 and Me3 for mono-, di- and trimethylation, P for phosphorylation and Pr for propionylation. Residues are numbered starting with the first residue after the cleaved methionine. Canonical H1, H2A, H2B and H3 histones are shown which represent sequences common across all subtypes.</p

Combinatorial patterns on H2A and H2B.

<p>Summary of N-terminal H2B and H2A combinatorial codes identified using ETD-MS. Each line represents an individual H2B_1–25 (<b>A</b>) or H2A_1–41 (<b>C</b>) peptide. Probability of co-occurrence of individual PTMs on H2B_1–25 determined by an association rule data-mining algorithm (<b>B</b>). The condition (left rows) is when a specific PTM is observed on H2A/H2B, and the outcome (top columns) is the probability (indicated by a heat plot) that a second or several PTM(s) are observed at the same time on the same histone molecule. Diagram depicting the relationship between three PTMs on H2A_1–41 (<b>D</b>). N-term Ac, K5ac and R3Me3 were either mutually exclusive or always seen in combination. The frequency of each PTM is indicated by the % above the circle, connections indicate the derived rule and its % occurrence. For instance, when K5ac was present, N-term ac was also observed in 100% of cases (connected by arrow), but R3me3 was never observed. When R3me3 was observed, N-term acetylation or K5ac was never observed (100% of cases), suggesting mutual exclusion of N-term acetylation and R3me3, potentially due to steric hindrance or conformational changes induced by each PTM.</p