Event Details:
Jason Shepherd, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy,
Biochemistry and Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
University of Utah
Host: Michelle Drews (Shatz Lab)
Abstract
The neuronal gene Arc is essential for long-lasting information storage in the mammalian brain, mediates various forms of synaptic plasticity, including experience-dependent plasticity in the visual cortex. We recently discovered that Arc self-assembles into virus-like capsids that encapsulate RNA. Endogenous Arc protein is released from neurons in extracellular vesicles that mediate the transfer of Arc mRNA into new target cells. Evolutionary analysis indicates that Arc is derived from a vertebrate lineage of Ty3/gypsy retrotransposons, which are also ancestral to retroviruses such as HIV. These findings suggest that Gag retroelements have been repurposed during evolution to mediate intercellular communication in the nervous system.
Recent Papers
[1] Elissa D. Pastuzyn, Cameron E. Day Rachel B. Kearns, Madeleine Kyrke-Smith, Andrew V. Taibi, John McCormick, Nathan Yoder, David M. Belnap, Simon Erlendsson, Dustin R. Morado, John A.G. Briggs, Ce´dric Feschotte, and Jason D. Shepherd. The Neuronal Gene Arc Encodes a Repurposed Retrotransposon Gag Protein that Mediates Intercellular RNA Transfer. Cell 172, 275–288, January 11, 2018 doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.12.024
[2] Simon Erlendsson , Dustin R. Morado, Harrison B. Cullen, Cedric Feschotte, Jason D. Shepherd and John A. G. Briggs . Structures of virus-like capsids formed by the Drosophila neuronal Arc proteins. Nature Neuroscience, January 6, 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41593-019-0569-y