title: Towards a better understanding of cognitive behaviors regulated by gene expression downstream of activity-dependent transcription factors.
abstract: In the field of molecular and cellular neuroscience, it is not a trivial task to see the forest for the trees, where numerous, and seemingly independent, molecules often work in concert to control critical steps of synaptic plasticity and signalling. Here, we will first summarize our current knowledge on essential activity-dependent transcription factors (TFs) such as CREB, MEF2, Npas4 and SRF, then examine how various transcription cofactors (TcoFs) also contribute to defining the transcriptional outputs during learning and memory. This review finally attempts a provisory synthesis that sheds new light on some of the emerging principles of neuronal circuit dynamics driven by activity-regulated gene transcription to help better understand the intricate relationship between activity-dependent gene expression and cognitive behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems, University of Edinburgh, 1 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nonaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; CREST-Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo 102-0076, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharry
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; CREST-Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo 102-0076, Japan.
authors.forename: Ayano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matsushima
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: Sayaka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takemoto-Kimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; CREST-Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo 102-0076, Japan. Electronic address: hbito@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Haruhiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bito
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D050882:CREB-Binding Protein / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D051605:Kv Channel-Interacting Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D064326:MEF2 Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D051783:Methyl-CpG-Binding Protein 2 / Q000502:physiology; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D050882:CREB-Binding Protein; D051605:Kv Channel-Interacting Proteins; D064326:MEF2 Transcription Factors; D051783:Methyl-CpG-Binding Protein 2; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C496749:KCNIP3 protein, human; C497392:MECP2 protein, human; C481603:NPAS4 protein, human; C494363:CREBBP protein, human
keywords: Activity-dependent transcription; CREB; CRTC1; DREAM; MEF2; Memory; Npas4; SRF; Virus vector