Liprin-␣/SYD-2 is a family of multidomain proteins with four known isoforms. One of the reported functions of liprin-␣ is to regulate the development of presynaptic active zones, but the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. Here we report that liprin-␣ directly interacts with the ERC (ELKS-Rab6-interacting protein-CAST) family of proteins, members of which are known to bind RIMs, the active zone proteins that regulate neurotransmitter release. In vitro results indicate that ERC2/CAST, an active zone-specific isoform, interacts with all of the known isoforms of liprin-␣ and that liprin-␣1 associates with both ERC2 and ERC1b, a splice variant of ERC1 that distributes to both cytosolic and active zone regions. ERC2 colocalizes with liprin-␣1 in cultured neurons and forms a complex with liprin-␣1 in brain. Liprin-␣1, when expressed alone in cultured neurons, shows a partial synaptic localization. When coexpressed with ERC2, however, liprin-␣1 is redistributed to synaptic sites. Moreover, roughly the first half of ERC2, which contains the liprin-␣-binding region, is sufficient for the synaptic localization of liprin-␣1 while the second half is not. These results suggest that the interaction between ERC2 and liprin-␣ may be involved in the presynaptic localization of liprin-␣ and the molecular organization of presynaptic active zones.
The Shank/ProSAP family of multidomain proteins is known to play an important role in organizing synaptic multiprotein complexes. Here we report a novel interaction between Shank and PIX, a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for the Rac1 and Cdc42 small GTPases. This interaction is mediated by the PDZ domain of Shank and the C-terminal leucine zipper domain and the PDZ domain-binding motif at the extreme C terminus of PIX. Shank colocalizes with PIX at excitatory synaptic sites in cultured neurons. In brain, Shank forms a complex with PIX and PIX-associated signaling molecules including p21-associated kinase (PAK), an effector kinase of Rac1/Cdc42. Importantly, overexpression of Shank in cultured neurons promotes synaptic accumulation of PIX and PAK. Considering the involvement of Rac1 and PAK in spine dynamics, these results suggest that Shank recruits PIX and PAK to spines for the regulation of postsynaptic structure.Dendritic spines are actin-rich morphological specializations in neurons that mediate most excitatory synaptic transmission (1-3). The postsynaptic density (PSD) 1 is a microscopic structure within dendritic spines that is associated with the postsynaptic membrane and contains a variety of scaffolding and signaling proteins (4, 5).The Shank/ProSAP/SSTRIP family of multidomain proteins (Shank1, Shank2, and Shank3) plays important roles in organizing the PSD (6, 7). Shank is a relatively large protein (ϳ200 kDa) and contains various protein interaction domains including, from the N terminus, ankyrin repeats, an SH3 domain, a PDZ domain, a long (Ͼ1000 aa residues) proline-rich region and a SAM domain. The ankyrin repeats interact with ␣-fodrin, an actin-regulating protein, and Sharpin, a protein implicated in Shank multimerization (8, 9). The Shank PDZ domain interacts with the GKAP/SAPAP family of synaptic scaffold proteins and various membrane proteins including the calciumindependent receptor for latrotoxin, somatostatin receptors, and metabotropic glutamate receptors (10 -16). The long proline-rich region of Shank associates with IRSp53 (an insulin receptor tyrosine kinase substrate protein), Homer (an immediate early gene product that binds the group I metabotropic receptors and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors), dynamin (a GTPase that regulates endocytosis), and cortactin (a regulator of the cortical actin cytoskeleton) (16 -20). The C-terminal SAM domain mediates multimerization of Shank proteins (10). There are several splice variants of Shank with alternative translational start and stop codons, suggesting that the Shank protein interactions are regulated by alternative splicing (11,12,21,22).Functionally, Shank is involved in the morphogenesis of dendritic spines (3, 23). Overexpression of Shank proteins promotes the maturation of spines in cultured neurons (24). The enhanced spine maturation by Shank requires the interaction of Shank with Homer, a protein that binds to metabotropic glutamate receptors and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (16). In addition, expression of ...
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