MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE

Postsynaptic targeting of MAGUKs mediated by distinct N-terminal domains

Firestein, Bonnie L.2,3; Craven, Sarah E.1; Bredt, David S.1

Author Information

1Department of Physiology, University of California at San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143-0444, USA

2Present address: Rutgers State University of New Jersey, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Nelson Biological Laboratories, 604 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8082, USA

3Corresponding Author and Address: Bonnie L. Firestein, Rutgers State University of New Jersey, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Nelson Biological Laboratories, 604 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8082, USA

Acknowledgements: The authors thank Dr Alaa El-Din El-Husseini for DNA constructs and helpful discussion. This work was supported by a Spinal Cord Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (to B.L.F) and grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01-NS36017), National Science Foundation, The National Association for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, the EJLB, and the Culpeper and Beckman Foundations (to D.S.B).

Received 25 July 2000; accepted 22 August 2000

NeuroReport 11(16):p 3479-3484, November 9, 2000.

Abstract

Postsynaptic targeting of PSD-95 has been extensively studied; however, little is known about how other MAGUKs are localized. Proper targeting of PSD-95 requires dual palmitoylation of an N-terminal motif. We now find that the N-termini of closely related PSD-93 and SAP-102 are also involved in postsynaptic targeting. PSD-93 is N-terminally palmitoylated; however, unlike PSD-95, palmitoylation does not explain the necessity of the N-terminus for PSD-93 postsynaptic targeting. Furthermore, when the N-terminus of PSD-95 is replaced with the first 30 or 64, but not the first 10, amino acids of PSD-93, the chimera is targeted to postsynaptic sites independent of palmitoylation. Similarly, when the N-terminus of PSD-95 is replaced with the non-palmitoylated N-terminus of SAP-102, postsynaptic targeting is maintained. These results suggest that MAGUKs contain diverse signals within their N-termini for postsynaptic targeting.

© 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

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