Membrane-proximal region of glutamate receptor delta2 subunit is critical for long-term depression and interaction with protein interacting with C kinase 1 in a cerebellar Purkinje neuron.

The glutamate receptor delta2 subunit (GluRdelta2) is selectively expressed in cerebellar Purkinje neurons (PNs) and is involved in the long-term depression (LTD). However, little is known about the mechanism of its action. Acute expression of the wild-type GluRdelta2 in the GluRdelta2-deficient PN rescued the induction of LTD, suggesting the direct role of GluRdelta2 in LTD. To identify the critical region of GluRdelta2 necessary for LTD, we constructed and expressed various mutant GluRdelta2 proteins in the GluRdelta2-deficient PNs. The mutant GluRdelta2 possessing the membrane-proximal 21 aa residues in the C-terminal cytoplasmic region rescued the induction of LTD, whereas the mutant with membrane-proximal 13 aa failed. In addition, overexpression of 865 approximately 871 aa of GluRdelta2 (corresponding to membrane-proximal 14-20 aa) fused to EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein) suppressed LTD in a wild-type PN. These results suggest that 865 approximately 871 aa of GluRdelta2 play an essential role in LTD. We next identified protein interacting with C kinase 1 (PICK1) as a molecule interacting with the membrane-proximal C-terminal region of GluRdelta2 by yeast two-hybrid screening. PICK1 plays an essential role in LTD. It colocalized with GluRdelta2 at spines of PNs, and immunoprecipitation assays showed that GluRdelta2 bound to PICK1 mainly through 865-871 aa. These results indicate that 865-871 aa of GluRdelta2 are essential for both LTD and interaction with PICK1, and suggest that interaction between GluRdelta2 and PICK1 might be critical for the induction of LTD.