GRIP1 and 2 regulate activity-dependent AMPA receptor recycling via exocyst complex interactions.

PSD-95/SAP90/DLG/ZO-1 (PDZ) domain-mediated protein-protein interactions play important roles in regulating AMPA receptor trafficking and neuronal plasticity. GRIP1 and GRIP2 are homologous multi-PDZ domain-containing proteins that bind to the C-termini of AMPA-R GluA2 and GluA3 subunits. Previous attempts to determine the cellular roles of GRIP1 and GRIP2 in neurons have been complicated by nonspecific reagents, and by the embryonic lethality of conventional GRIP1 KO mice. To circumvent these issues we developed a conditional targeted deletion strategy to knock out GRIP1 in postnatal neurons derived from GRIP2 KO mice. Loss of GRIP1 and 2 did not affect normal AMPA-R steady-state trafficking and endocytosis, but strikingly impaired activity-dependent AMPA-R recycling. This previously uncharacterized role for GRIP1 appears to be mediated by novel interactions with the cellular trafficking machinery via the exocyst protein complex. Indeed, disruption of GRIP1-exocyst binding caused a strikingly similar deficit in AMPA-R recycling. Together these findings reveal a previously unidentified role for AMPA-R-GRIP1-exocyst protein complexes in activity-dependent AMPA-R trafficking.