The Role of Functional Prion-Like Proteins in the Persistence of Memory
- 1Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Missouri 64113
- 2Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas 66160
- 3Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815-6789
- 4Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, New York 10027
- 5Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York 10032
- 6Kavli Institute for Brain Sciences, New York, New York 10032
- Correspondence: ksi{at}stowers.org
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.
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