Competition between recently potentiated synaptic inputs reveals a winner-take-all phase of synaptic tagging and capture.

Canonical models suggest that mechanisms of long-term memory consist of a synapse-specific, protein synthesis-independent induction phase (changes in synaptic weights/temporary tagging of such synapses) and, within adjacent dendritic compartments, a protein synthesis-dependent distribution phase that may accompany or immediately precede induction and whose protein products enable consolidation through synaptic capture. We now report that this distribution phase is competitive in a "winner-take-all" fashion when synapses potentiated at induction compete with each other for plasticity-related proteins. This finding highlights the importance of synaptic competition in creating stable long-lasting memory in neural networks without disruption.