title: Characterization of a novel protein regulated during the critical period for song learning in the zebra finch.
abstract: A male zebra finch learns a song by listening to a tutor, but song learning is normally restricted to a critical period in juvenile development. Here we identify an RNA whose expression in the song control circuit is altered during this critical period. The RNA encodes a soluble presynaptic protein that forms a predicted amphipathic alpha helix typical of the lipid-binding domain in apolipoproteins. We show this protein, which we call synelfin, to be the homolog of the human non-A beta component (and its precursor) recently purified from Alzheimer's disease amyloid. We suggest this highly conserved protein may serve a novel function critical to the regulation of vertebrate neural plasticity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Structural Biology, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Clayton
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000682:Amyloid / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D002171:Canaries / Q000235:genetics; D002417:Cattle; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000254:growth & development*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D013347:Subcellular Fractions / Q000737:chemistry; D051843:Synucleins; D014101:Torpedo / Q000235:genetics; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000682:Amyloid; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D051843:Synucleins; C095363:synelfin