title: Neuronal mRNAs travel singly into dendrites.
abstract: RNA transport granules deliver translationally repressed mRNAs to synaptic sites in dendrites, where synaptic activity promotes their localized translation. Although the identity of many proteins that make up the neuronal granules is known, the stoichiometry of their core component, the mRNA, is poorly understood. By imaging nine different dendritically localized mRNA species with single-molecule sensitivity and subdiffraction-limit resolution in cultured hippocampal neurons, we show that two molecules of the same or different mRNA species do not assemble in common structures. Even mRNA species with a common dendritic localization element, the sequence that is believed to mediate the incorporation of these mRNAs into common complexes, do not colocalize. These results suggest that mRNA molecules traffic to the distal reaches of dendrites singly and independently of others, a model that permits a finer control of mRNA content within a synapse for synaptic plasticity.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Research Institute and Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Batish
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van den Bogaard
authors.forename: Fred Russell
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tyagi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D003712:Dendrites / Q000378:metabolism*; D019281:Dimerization; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation; D008954:Models, Biological; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism; D009435:Synaptic Transmission
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012313:RNA