title: Differential trafficking of GluR7 kainate receptor subunit splice variants.
abstract: Kainate receptors (KARs) are heteromeric ionotropic glutamate receptors that play a variety of roles in the regulation of synaptic network activity. The function of glutamate receptors (GluRs) is highly dependent on their surface density in specific neuronal domains. Alternative splicing is known to regulate surface expression of GluR5 and GluR6 subunits. The KAR subunit GluR7 exists under different splice variant isoforms in the C-terminal domain (GluR7a and GluR7b). Here we have studied the trafficking of GluR7 splice variants in cultured hippocampal neurons from wild-type and KAR mutant mice. We have found that alternative splicing regulates surface expression of GluR7-containing KARs. GluR7a and GluR7b differentially traffic from the ER to the plasma membrane. GluR7a is highly expressed at the plasma membrane, and its trafficking is dependent on a stretch of positively charged amino acids also found in GluR6a. In contrast, GluR7b is detected at the plasma membrane at a low level and retained mostly in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The RXR motif of GluR7b does not act as an ER retention motif, at variance with other receptors and ion channels, but might be involved during the assembly process. Like GluR6a, GluR7a promotes surface expression of ER-retained subunit splice variants when assembled in heteromeric KARs. However, our results also suggest that this positive regulation of KAR trafficking is limited by the ability of different combinations of subunits to form heteromeric receptor assemblies. These data further define the complex rules that govern membrane delivery and subcellular distribution of KARs.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Physiologie Cellulaire de la Synapse, CNRS Unité Mixte de Recherche 5091, Institut François Magendie, Université Bordeaux 2, France.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jaskolski
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Normand
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mulle
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Coussen
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D019921:Biotinylation; D019556:COS Cells; D037282:Calreticulin / Q000378:metabolism; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D019281:Dimerization; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism; D006031:Glycosylation; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D047468:Immunoprecipitation; D007477:Ions; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D021381:Protein Transport; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D018092:Kainic Acid Receptors / Q000737:chemistry*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014162:Transfection; D000097808:GluK3 Kainate Receptor
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D037282:Calreticulin; D004247:DNA; D007477:Ions; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018092:Kainic Acid Receptors; D000097808:GluK3 Kainate Receptor