PBIO SEMINAR SERIES
Role of CaM-kinases in Neuronal Development and Plasticity.
Wednesday -
February 14, 2007
06-07 Seminar Series
Tom Soderling
Professor Oregon Health Sciences Univ. Vollum Institute
Speaker's website
Host: Andres Barria
Studies over the past four years from the Soderling lab have demonstrated that CaM-kinase I (CaMKI) plays a major role in Ca2+ and activity-dependent regulation of axonal growth cone morphology/motility and dendritic arborization. The current talk will demonstrate that CaMKI, and its upstream activator CaM-kinase kinase, form a signaling complex with betaPIX, a Rac GEF. As part of this complex, CaMKI, in response to neuronal activity and NMDA receptor activation, phosphorylates betaPIX and enhances its GEF activity, thereby stimulating Rac and Pak. A physiological consequence of this signaling pathway is maturation of dendritic filopodia to mushroom-shaped spines and synapses.