title: A role for a rat homolog of staufen in the transport of RNA to neuronal dendrites.
abstract: RNAs are present in dendrites and may be used for local protein synthesis in response to synaptic activity. To begin to understand dendritic RNA targeting, we cloned a rat homolog of staufen, a Drosophila gene that participates in mRNA targeting during development. In hippocampal neurons, rat staufen protein displays a microtubule-dependent somatodendritic distribution pattern that overlaps with dendritic RNAs. To determine whether r-staufen is required for dendritic RNA targeting, we constructed a mutant version containing the RNA binding domains (stau-RBD) but lacking the C-terminal portion potentially involved in dendritic targeting. Stau-RBD expression was restricted to the cell bodies and proximal dendrites. Expression of stau-RBD significantly decreased, while overexpression of wild-type r-staufen increased, the amount of dendritic mRNA. Taken together, these results suggest that the rat staufen protein plays an important role in the delivery of RNA to dendrites.
authors.affiliation: Caltech/HHMI, Division of Biology, 216-76, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meulemans
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vazquez
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Colaco
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schuman
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport / Q000235:genetics; D003712:Dendrites / Q000378:metabolism*; D004330:Drosophila; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; C492187:Stau1 protein, mouse; C492186:Stau1 protein, rat; C492188:Stau2 protein, rat; C117884:staufen protein, mammalian; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D012313:RNA