PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Wencheng Liu
AU  - Jeremy Seto
AU  - Gerald Donovan
AU  - Miklos Toth
TI  - Jerky, a Protein Deficient in a Mouse Epilepsy Model, Is Associated with Translationally Inactive mRNA in Neurons
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.22-01-00176.2002
DP  - 2002 Jan 01
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 176--182
VI  - 22
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/22/1/176.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/22/1/176.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2002 Jan 01; 22
AB  - Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a common seizure disorder, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are unknown. We reported previously that inactivation of the jerky gene in mice causes recurrent limbic seizures highly similar to TLE. Electrophysiological studies showed abnormal firing in hippocampal neurons in these mice, but it is not known how a deficiency in the Jerky protein leads to neuronal hyperexcitability. Here we show that Jerky is a brain-specific protein with a high expression level in neurons. Jerky binds mRNAs with high affinity, and it is a component of messenger ribonucleoprotein complexes in vivo. However, Jerky is not associated with ribosomes and actively translating mRNAs. These data suggest that Jerky may regulate mRNA use in neurons, and its deficiency could lead to perturbations in the regulated use of preexisting mRNAs.