Genomic instability and alterations in gene expression are hallmarks of eukaryotic aging. The yeast histone deacetylase Sir2 silences transcription and stabilizes repetitive DNA, but during aging or in response to a DNA break, the Sir complex relocalizes to sites of genomic instability, resulting in the desilencing of genes that cause sterility, a characteristic of yeast aging. Using embryonic stem cells, we show that mammalian Sir2, SIRT1, represses repetitive DNA and a functionally diverse set of genes across the mouse genome. In response to DNA damage, SIRT1 dissociates from these loci and relocalizes to DNA breaks to promote repair, resulting in transcriptional changes that parallel those in the aging mouse brain. Increased SIRT1 expression promotes survival in a mouse model of genomic instability and suppresses age-dependent transcriptional changes. Thus, DNA damage-induced redistribution of SIRT1 and other chromatin modifying proteins may be a conserved mechanism of aging in eukaryotes.

Postsynaptic differentiation of dendrites is an essential step in synapse formation. We report here a requirement for the transcription factor myocyte enhancer factor 2A (MEF2A) in the morphogenesis of postsynaptic granule neuron dendritic claws in the cerebellar cortex. A transcriptional repressor form of MEF2A that is sumoylated at lysine-403 promoted dendritic claw differentiation. Activity-dependent calcium signaling induced a calcineurin-mediated dephosphorylation of MEF2A at serine-408 and, thereby, promoted a switch from sumoylation to acetylation at lysine-403, which led to inhibition of dendritic claw differentiation. Our findings define a mechanism underlying postsynaptic differentiation that may modulate activity-dependent synapse development and plasticity in the brain.

The anaphase-promoting complex (APC) is highly expressed in postmitotic neurons, but its function in the nervous system was previously unknown. We report that the inhibition of Cdh1-APC in primary neurons specifically enhanced axonal growth. Cdh1 knockdown in cerebellar slice overlay assays and in the developing rat cerebellum in vivo revealed cell-autonomous abnormalities in layer-specific growth of granule neuron axons and parallel fiber patterning. Cdh1 RNA interference in neurons was also found to override the inhibitory influence of myelin on axonal growth. Thus, Cdh1-APC appears to play a role in regulating axonal growth and patterning in the developing brain that may also limit the growth of injured axons in the adult brain.

In the developing nervous system, Id2 (inhibitor of DNA binding 2, also known as inhibitor of differentiation 2) enhances cell proliferation, promotes tumour progression and inhibits the activity of neurogenic basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors. The anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome and its activator Cdh1 (APC/C(Cdh1)) restrains axonal growth but the targets of APC/C(Cdh1) in neurons are unknown. Id2 and other members of the Id family are very unstable proteins that are eliminated as cells enter the quiescent state, but how they are targeted for degradation has remained elusive. Here we show that Id2 interacts with the core subunits of APC/C and Cdh1 in primary neurons. APC/C(Cdh1) targets Id2 for degradation through a destruction box motif (D box) that is conserved in Id1 and Id4. Depletion of Cdh1 stabilizes Id proteins in neurons, whereas Id2 D-box mutants are impaired for Cdh1 binding and remain stable in cells that exit from the cell cycle and contain active APC/C(Cdh1). Mutants of the Id2 D box enhance axonal growth in cerebellar granule neurons in vitro and in the context of the cerebellar cortex, and overcome the myelin inhibitory signals for growth. Conversely, activation of bHLH transcription factors induces a cluster of genes with potent axonal inhibitory functions including the gene coding for the Nogo receptor, a key transducer of myelin inhibition. Degradation of Id2 in neurons permits the accumulation of the Nogo receptor, thereby linking APC/C(Cdh1) activity with bHLH target genes for the inhibition of axonal growth. These findings indicate that deregulated Id activity might be useful to reprogramme quiescent neurons into the axonal growth mode.

Axonal growth is fundamental to the establishment of neuronal connectivity in the brain. However, the cell-intrinsic mechanisms that govern axonal morphogenesis remain to be elucidated. The ubiquitin ligase Cdh1-anaphase-promoting complex (Cdh1-APC) suppresses the growth of axons in postmitotic neurons. Here, we report that Cdh1-APC operates in the nucleus to inhibit axonal growth. We also identify the transcriptional corepressor SnoN as a key target of neuronal Cdh1-APC that promotes axonal growth. Cdh1 forms a physical complex with SnoN and stimulates the ubiquitin-dependent proteasomal degradation of SnoN in neurons. Knockdown of SnoN in neurons significantly reduces axonal growth and suppresses Cdh1 RNAi enhancement of axonal growth. In addition, SnoN knockdown in vivo suggests an essential function for SnoN in the development of granule neuron parallel fibers in the cerebellar cortex. These findings define Cdh1-APC and SnoN as components of a cell-intrinsic pathway that orchestrates axonal morphogenesis in a transcription-dependent manner in the mammalian brain.

Mutations in the FBXO7 (PARK15) gene have been implicated in a juvenile form of parkinsonism termed parkinsonian pyramidal syndrome (PPS), characterized by Parkinsonian symptoms and pyramidal tract signs. FBXO7 (F-box protein only 7) is a subunit of the SCF (SKP1/cullin-1/F-box protein) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, but its relevance and function in neurons remain to be elucidated. Here, we report that the E3 ligase FBXO7-SCF binds to and ubiquitinates the proteasomal subunit PSMA2. In addition, we show that FBXO7 is a proteasome-associated protein involved in proteasome assembly. In FBXO7 knockout mice, we find reduced proteasome activity and early-onset motor deficits together with premature death. In addition, we demonstrate that NEX (neuronal helixloop-helix protein-1)-Cre-induced deletion of the FBXO7 gene in forebrain neurons or the loss of FBXO7 in tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive neurons results in motor defects, reminiscent of the phenotype in PARK15 patients. Taken together, our study establishes a vital role for FBXO7 in neurons, which is required for proper motor control and accentuates the importance of FBXO7 in proteasome function.

Axon growth is critical to the establishment of neuronal connectivity. The E3 ubiquitin ligase Cdh1-anaphase-promoting complex (Cdh1-APC) and its substrate the transcriptional modulator SnoN form a cell-intrinsic pathway that orchestrates axonal morphogenesis in the mammalian brain. How the Cdh1-APC/SnoN pathway is controlled in the nervous system remained unknown. Here, we report that the TGF␤-regulated signaling protein Smad2 plays a key role in regulating the Cdh1-APC/SnoN pathway in neurons. We find that Smad2 is expressed in primary granule neurons of the developing rat cerebellar cortex. The Smad signaling pathway is basally activated in neurons. Endogenous Smad2 is phosphorylated, localized in the nucleus, and forms a physical complex with endogenous SnoN in granule neurons. Inhibition of Smad signaling by several distinct approaches, including genetic knock-down of Smad2, stimulates axonal growth. Biochemical evidence and genetic epistasis analyses reveal that Smad2 acts upstream of SnoN in a shared pathway with Cdh1-APC in the control of axonal growth. Remarkably, Smad2 knock-down also overrides the ability of adult rat myelin to inhibit axonal growth. Collectively, our findings define a novel function for Smad2 in regulation of the Cdh1-APC/SnoN cell-intrinsic pathway of axonal morphogenesis, and suggest that inhibition of Smad signaling may hold therapeutic potential in stimulating axonal growth after injury in the CNS.

Neuronal polarity is essential for normal brain development and function. However, cell-intrinsic mechanisms that govern the establishment of neuronal polarity remain to be identified. Here, we report that knockdown of endogenous FOXO proteins in hippocampal and cerebellar granule neurons, including in the rat cerebellar cortex in vivo, reveals a requirement for the FOXO transcription factors in the establishment of neuronal polarity. The FOXO transcription factors, including the brain-enriched protein FOXO6, play a critical role in axo-dendritic polarization of undifferentiated neurites, and hence in a switch from unpolarized to polarized neuronal morphology. We also identify the gene encoding the protein kinase Pak1, which acts locally in neuronal processes to induce polarity, as a critical direct target gene of the FOXO transcription factors. Knockdown of endogenous Pak1 phenocopies the effect of FOXO knockdown on neuronal polarity. Importantly, exogenous expression of Pak1 in the background of FOXO knockdown in both primary neurons and postnatal rat pups in vivo restores the polarized morphology of neurons. These findings define the FOXO proteins and Pak1 as components of a cell-intrinsic transcriptional pathway that orchestrates neuronal polarity, thus identifying a novel function for the FOXO transcription factors in a unique aspect of neural development.[Keywords: FOXO; neuronal polarity; Pak1; transcription; axons; dendrites] Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org.