Loss of Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 8 Alters Synapse Composition and Function, Resulting in Behavioral Defects

Diverse molecular mechanisms regulate synaptic composition and function in the mammalian nervous system. The multifunctional protein arginine methyltransferase 8 (PRMT8) possesses both methyltransferase and phospholipase activities. Here we examine the role of this neuron-specific protein in hippoca...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Penney, Jay, Seo, Jinsoo, Kritskiy, Oleg, Elmsaouri, Sara, Gao, Fan, Pao, Ping-Chieh, Su, Susan Chih-Chieh, Tsai, Li-Huei
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Format: Article
Published: Society for Neuroscience 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114826
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5607-113X
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6788-7185
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1262-0592
Description
Summary:Diverse molecular mechanisms regulate synaptic composition and function in the mammalian nervous system. The multifunctional protein arginine methyltransferase 8 (PRMT8) possesses both methyltransferase and phospholipase activities. Here we examine the role of this neuron-specific protein in hippocampal plasticity and cognitive function. PRMT8 protein localizes to synaptic sites, and conditional whole-brain Prmt8 deletion results in altered levels of multiple synaptic proteins in the hippocampus, using both male and female mice. Interestingly, these altered protein levels are due to post-transcriptional mechanisms as the corresponding mRNA levels are unaffected. Strikingly, electrophysiological recordings from hippocampal slices of mice lacking PRMT8 reveal multiple defects in excitatory synaptic function and plasticity. Furthermore, behavioral analyses show that PRMT8 conditional knock-out mice exhibit impaired hippocampal-dependent fear learning. Together, these findings establish PRMT8 as an important component of the molecular machinery required for hippocampal neuronal function.