Page 16 - Abacoa Community News - June '21

Page 16, Abacoa
scieNce ON the cUttiNg edge

The Scripps Research Institute News

Making Memories: Neural Based on the Florida

Plasticity Depends On A c a m pus of Sc ri pps
Research, Renata devises
Noncoding RNA’s Unexpected ef ficient chemical
techniques for recreating
Journey valuable compounds
found in nature. His lab
Making memories involves more than seeing friends or also studies how these
taking photos. The brain constantly adapts to new information compounds are naturally
and stores memories by building neuron connections, or created, with the goal of
synapses. How neurons do this – reaching out arm-like harnessing the same enzymes and mechanisms to simplify
dendrites to communicate with other neurons – requires a When the brain’s synapses are activated, they set off a the process of making them in the lab.
ballet of genes, signaling molecules, cellular scaffolding and signaling cascade that results in the expression of long Through his work, Renata makes these complex
protein-building machinery. noncoding RNA called “ADEPTR.” The RNA is quickly compounds available for research and potentially for
A new study from scientists at Scripps Research and the transported along dendrites to synapses, where it acts on development into drugs or other products that enhance
Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience finds a central proteins involved in remodeling. Image by Jenna Wingfield human well-being. Already, he’s successfully created
role for one signaling molecule: a long, noncoding RNA that and Yibo Zhao of the Puthanveettil lab at Scripps Research compounds with anticancer, antimicrobial and anti-
the scientists named ADEPTR. inflammatory properties.
Using a variety of technologies, including confocal and hope to learn more about the role of ADEPTR in vivo. “It’s such an honor to receive this recognition from
two-photon microscopy, they track ADEPTR’s moves – “It would be interesting to learn what role ADEPTR Natural Product Reports,” says Renata, associate professor
watching as it forms, travels and amasses at the synapse and plays in forming new memories in living organisms,” says in the Department of Chemistry. “I’m thankful to my
activates other proteins upon a neuron’s stimulation. Grinman. mentors and colleagues who have supported me over the
Its journey to the far reaches of a brain cell is made The work is revealing one of the most fundamental years, as well as my lab members for their hard work and
possible by a cellular carrier that tiptoes along a dendrite’s processes of learning and memory: adaptation to changing creativity that makes breakthroughs possible.”
microtubule scaffolding. Called a kinesin motor, it deposits information and circumstances. Renata received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia
ADEPTR near the synapse junction, where it activates other “Neural plasticity is what allows us to learn, respond to University in 2008 and earned his doctorate from Scripps
proteins. stimuli, and lay down long-term memories,” Puthanveettil Research in 2013 under the guidance of chemist and
The team also found that if ADEPTR is silenced, new says. “There is still much to learn about the magnificent Professor Phil Baran, Ph.D. He returned to Scripps
synapses don’t form during stimulation. complexity of this fundamental biological process.” Research in 2016 after completing postdoctoral work
The study, “Activity regulated synaptic targeting of In addition to Puthanveettil and Grinman, the authors in the lab of Frances Arnold, Ph.D., at the California
lncRNA ADEPTR mediates structural plasticity by localizing of the study include Yosef Avchalumov, Isabel Espadas, Institute of Technology.
Sptn1 and AnkB in dendrites,” is published in the journal and Supriya Swarnkar of Scripps Research, Florida; and Among his early-career accomplishments, Renata and
Science Advances. Yoshihisa Nakahata and Ryohei Yasuda of the Max Planck his collaborators in the Adibekian lab at Scripps Research
Illuminating The Dark Matter Florida Institute for Neuroscience. recently discovered a way to create a synthetic version of
Long noncoding RNAs have often been described as Funding for the work was provided by the National a natural compound called cepafungin I, which has shown
“genomic dark matter,” because their role in cells has Institutes of Health, 5R01MH094607-05, 1R21DA039417- promise as a potential cancer therapy. The compound
yet to be fully characterized, especially in neurons, says 01A1 and 1R01MH119541-01A1. showed many similarities to FDA-approved chemotherapy
the study’s lead author, Scripps Research neuroscientist bortezomib, while also having certain qualities that may
Sathyanarayanan Puthanveettil, Ph.D. Puthanveettil’s team is Hans Renata Named To 2021 translate into fewer unwanted side effects for patients.
finding that the RNAs play a signaling role in neural plasticity Natural Product Reports “The natural world is brimming with complex chemicals
– or how neurons adapt and change with experience. that living things have developed as part of their survival
“Here we report activity-dependent dendritic targeting Emerging Investigator mechanisms – and many of these chemicals hold important
of a newly transcribed long noncoding RNA for modulating medicinal potential,” Renata says. “I see great promise in using
synapse function, and describe its underlying mechanisms,” Lectureship chemistry to create synthetic versions of these compounds,
Puthanveettil says. “These studies bring novel insights into which are often extremely rare in the natural world.”
the functions of long noncoding RNAs at the synapse.” Scripps Research chemist Hans Renata, Ph.D., has been As recipient of the 2021 Natural Product Reports
The first author is Eddie Grinman, a graduate student in selected by the editorial board of high-impact scientific emerging investigator lectureship, Renata is provided
Puthanveettil’s lab. journal Natural Product Reports for its annual emerging a cash prize and will present a lecture later this year.
A long noncoding RNA is a type of RNA that exceeds 200 investigator lectureship. The role recognizes a researcher Natural Product Reports is a peer-reviewed journal
nucleotides and does not get translated into protein. There are who has made a significant contribution to a natural that stimulates progress in all areas of natural products
thousands of these long noncoding RNA in our cells, but in products-related area of the chemical sciences in their early research, spanning bioinorganic, bioorganic and chemical
most cases, their function isn’t yet known. What is known is independent career. biology communities.
that usually, they tend to stay within the cell nucleus. Some
regulate the transcription of genes.
“It was surprising to see a long noncoding RNA move Louis Vuitton Wine?
from nucleus to the synapse so rapidly and robustly,”
Grinman says. ‘Where Fashion And
A “Magnificent Complexity”
The hippocampus is the part of the brain where learning,
memory and emotions reside. Working in hippocampal Wine Merge ...’
neurons from mice, the team stimulated the neurons with
pharmacological activators of learning-related signaling.
They found through molecular and high-resolution imaging
techniques that the ADEPTR long noncoding RNA was By Laura Berrio, Freelance Other fashion companies have followed the same
rapidly expressed and transported to the outer arms of the Writer/Blogger path. Ferragamo and Bulgari have vineyards and estates
cell. There, the ADEPTR molecules interact with proteins When I think of Dom in Southern Tuscany. One of the Guess brothers, who
that play a role in structural organization of synapses, proteins Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, cofounded the company, has a 55-acre Napa vineyard and
called spectrin 1 and ankyrin B. and French wine, I picture a winery. Chanel bought St. Supery vineyard and winery in
They found that ADEPTR became downregulated if small family-owned business Napa.
exposed to an inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA. with fields of old vine grapes. With all of these “luxury” brand companies
“These findings add another layer of complexity in In reality you have to look to lending their name and efforts to making great wine and
synapse modulation and plasticity,” Puthanveettil says. the fashion industry to find the Champagne, it has me thinking of other fun potential
“Synaptically localized long noncoding RNA are important owner. ventures. …
regulators of adaptive neuronal function.” Wine and fashion are two • AVEDA could make an organic wine
Going forward, the team intends to continue characterizing of life’s greatest pleasures! • Rolex could make Champagne to rival Dom Perignon
how stimulation affects neuronal plasticity. Also, the authors What goes better than a glass of wine and a fashion • YSL could make a wine that has anti-aging beauty
magazine? You don’t have to look far to find brands like properties
Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Ferragamo and Diesel in the wine The list is endless, but one thing is for sure, more
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