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Translocation of CaM kinase II to synaptic sites in vivo

Nature Neuroscience volume 6, pages 217–218 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

The idea that calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is strategically localized to excitatory synapses to exert its important role in long-term potentiation and other forms of neuronal plasticity1 is supported by the binding of CaMKII to isolated postsynaptic densities (PSD) in biochemical assays2 and by the finding in cultured neurons that PSD clusters of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged CaMKII form in response to glutamate application or direct electrical stimulation3,4. The observation that CaMKII also forms large clusters in response to ischemic insults5, however, questions the physiological relevance of such translocations. Here we show that in intact zebrafish, repeated sensory stimulation resulted in reproducible and reversible translocation of GFP-CaMKII to the PSD in an identified interneuron in a sensorimotor circuit.

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Figure 1: Skin stimulation causes reversible translocation of CaMKII in CoPA cell dendrites of intact two-day old zebrafish.
Figure 2: Translocation of CaMKII in vivo is mediated by synaptic transmission.
Figure 3: CaMKII localizes to specific postsynaptic sites.

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Acknowledgements

We thank P. Brehm (SUNY Stony Brook) for technical advice, T. Meyer (Stanford) for rat CaMKIIα cDNA and M. Sheng (MIT) for human PSD95 cDNA. M.R.G. is a recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from the National Science Foundation. S.H. is supported by a grant from the Toyobo Biotechnology Foundation. G.M. is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This work was also supported by National Institutes of Health grant NS26539 to J.R.F.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, 11794, New York, USA

    Michelle R. Gleason, Shin-ichi Higashijima, Julia Dallman & Gail Mandel

  2. Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, 11794, New York, USA

    Michelle R. Gleason, Shin-ichi Higashijima, Julia Dallman, Katharine Liu, Gail Mandel & Joseph R. Fetcho

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  1. Michelle R. Gleason
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  2. Shin-ichi Higashijima
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  3. Julia Dallman
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Correspondence to Gail Mandel.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Movie 1.

CaMKII black and white movie: This is a movie of the experiment shown in Figure 1 B in which GFP-CaMKII was expressed in a CoPA neuron. The stimulation leads to translocation of the GFP-CaMKII. The movement artifact occurs at the time of the stimulus. (MOV 614 kb)

Supplementary Movie 2.

CaMKII three color movie: This is a movie of the experiment shown in Figure 1 C in which both DsRed and GFP-CaMKII were expressed in a CoPA neuron. The movie shows from top to bottom, the DsRed channel, the GFP-CaMKII channel and an overlay of the two. The stimulation leads to translocation of the GFP-CaMKII, but not the DsRed. Small movements at the beginning of the sequence are the result of the fish attempting to swim. A large movement artifact occurs at the time of the stimulus. (MOV 1295 kb)

Supplementary Movie 3.

CaMKII dual label: This shows a larger view of the overlay image from the dual labeling channel in movie number 2. (MOV 727 kb)

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Gleason, M., Higashijima, Si., Dallman, J. et al. Translocation of CaM kinase II to synaptic sites in vivo. Nat Neurosci 6, 217–218 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1011

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