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The Journal of Neuroscience, September 12, 2007, 27(37):10037-10046; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0361-07.2007

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Development/Plasticity/Repair
PIASx Is a MEF2 SUMO E3 Ligase That Promotes Postsynaptic Dendritic Morphogenesis

Aryaman Shalizi,^1 * Parizad M. Bilimoria,^1,2 * Judith Stegmüller,¹ Brice Gaudillière,¹ Yue Yang,^1,2 Ke Shuai,³ and Azad Bonni^1,2

¹Department of Pathology and ²Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, and ³Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095

Correspondence should be addressed to Azad Bonni, Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, 77 Louis Pasteur Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. Email: azad_bonni{at}hms.harvard.edu

Postsynaptic morphogenesis of dendrites is essential for the establishment of neural connectivity in the brain, but the mechanisms that govern postsynaptic dendritic differentiation remain poorly understood. Sumoylation of the transcription factor myocyte enhancer factor 2A (MEF2A) promotes the differentiation of postsynaptic granule neuron dendritic claws in the cerebellar cortex. Here, we identify the protein PIASx as a MEF2 SUMO E3 ligase that represses MEF2-dependent transcription in neurons. Gain-of-function and genetic knockdown experiments in rat cerebellar slices and in the postnatal cerebellum in vivo reveal that PIASx drives the differentiation of granule neuron dendritic claws in the cerebellar cortex. MEF2A knockdown suppresses PIASx-induced dendritic claw differentiation, and expression of sumoylated MEF2A reverses PIASx knockdown-induced loss of dendritic claws. These findings define the PIASx-MEF2 sumoylation signaling link as a key mechanism that orchestrates postsynaptic dendritic claw morphogenesis in the cerebellar cortex and suggest novel functions for SUMO E3 ligases in brain development and plasticity.

Key words: sumoylation; transcription factor; signal transduction; dendrite; cerebellar cortex; granule neurons

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Received Jan. 26, 2007; revised July 18, 2007; accepted July 21, 2007.

Correspondence should be addressed to Azad Bonni, Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, 77 Louis Pasteur Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. Email: azad_bonni{at}hms.harvard.edu

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