FliZ regulates expression of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 invasion locus by controlling HilD protein activity in Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium.

A prerequisite for Salmonella enterica to cause both intestinal and systemic disease is the direct injection of effector proteins into host intestinal epithelial cells via a type three secretion system (T3SS); the T3SS genes are carried on Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1). These effector proteins induce inflammatory diarrhea and bacterial invasion. Expression of the SPI1 T3SS is tightly regulated in response to environmental signals through a variety of global regulatory systems. We have previously shown that three AraC-like regulators, HilD, HilC, and RtsA, act in a complex feed-forward regulatory loop to control the expression of the hilA gene, which encodes the direct regulator of the SPI1 structural genes. In this work, we characterize a major positive regulator of this system, the flagellar protein FliZ. Through genetic and biochemical analyses, we show that FliZ posttranslationally controls HilD to positively regulate hilA expression. This mechanism is independent of other flagellar components and is not mediated through the negative regulator HilE or through FliZ-mediated RpoS regulation. We demonstrate that FliZ controls HilD protein activity and not stability. FliZ regulates HilD in the absence of Lon protease, previously shown to degrade HilD. Indeed, it appears that FliZ, rather than HilD, is the most relevant target of Lon as it relates to SPI1 expression. Mutants lacking FliZ are significantly attenuated in their ability to colonize the intestine but are unaffected during systemic infection. The intestinal attenuation is partially dependent on SPI1, but FliZ has additional pleiotropic effects.

The role of neurotrophins in neurotransmitter release.

The neurotrophins (NTs) have recently been shown to elicit pronounced effects on quantal neurotransmitter release at both central and peripheral nervous system synapses. Due to their activity-dependent release, as well as the subcellular localization of both protein and receptor, NTs are ideally suited to modify the strength of neuronal connections by "fine-tuning" synaptic activity through direct actions at presynaptic terminals. Here, using BDNF as a prototypical example, the authors provide an update of recent evidence demonstrating that NTs enhance quantal neurotransmitter release at synapses through presynaptic mechanisms. The authors further propose that a potential target for NT actions at presynaptic terminals is the mechanism by which terminals retrieve synaptic vesicles after exocytosis. Depending on the temporal demands placed on synapses during high-frequency synaptic transmission, synapses may use two alternative modes of synaptic vesicle retrieval, the conventional slow endosomal recycling or a faster rapid retrieval at the active zone, referred to as "kiss-and-run." By modulating Ca2+ microdomains associated with voltage-gated Ca2+ channels at active zones, NTs may elicit a switch from the slow to the fast mode of endocytosis of vesicles at presynaptic terminals during high-frequency synaptic transmission, allowing more reliable information transfer and neuronal signaling in the central nervous system.

Correlated calcium uptake and release by mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum of CA3 hippocampal dendrites after afferent synaptic stimulation.

Mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are important modulators of intracellular calcium signaling pathways, but the role of these organelles in shaping synaptic calcium transients in dendrites of pyramidal neurons remains speculative. We have measured directly the concentrations of total Ca (bound plus free) within intracellular compartments of proximal dendrites of CA3 hippocampal neurons at times after synaptic stimulation corresponding to the peak of the cytoplasmic free Ca2+ transient (1 sec), to just after its decay (30 sec), and to well after its return to prestimulus levels (180 sec). Electron probe microanalysis of cryosections from rapidly frozen slice cultures has revealed that afferent mossy fiber stimulation evokes large, rapid elevations in the concentration of total mitochondrial Ca ([Ca](mito)) in depolarized dendrites. A single tetanus (50 Hz/1 sec) elevated [Ca](mito) more than fivefold above characteristically low basal levels within 1 sec of stimulation and >10-fold by 30 sec after stimulation. This strong Ca accumulation was reversible, because [Ca](mito) had recovered by 180 sec after the tetanus. Ca sequestered within mitochondria was localized to small inclusions that were distributed heterogeneously within, and probably among, individual mitochondria. By 30 sec after stimulation an active subpopulation of ER cisterns had accumulated more Ca than had mitochondria despite a approximately 1 sec delay before the onset of accumulation. Active ER cisterns retained their Ca load much longer (>3 min) than mitochondria. The complementary time courses of mitochondrial versus ER Ca2+ uptake and release suggest that these organelles participate in a choreographed interplay, each shaping dendritic Ca2+ signals within characteristic regimes of cytosolic Ca2+ concentration and time.

From acquisition to consolidation: on the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor signaling in hippocampal-dependent learning.

One of the most rigorously investigated problems in modern neuroscience is to decipher the mechanisms by which experience-induced changes in the central nervous system are translated into behavioral acquisition, consolidation, retention, and subsequent recall of information. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has recently emerged as one of the most potent molecular mediators of not only central synaptic plasticity, but also behavioral interactions between an organism and its environment. Recent experimental evidence indicates that BDNF modulates synaptic transmission and plasticity by acting across different spatial and temporal domains. BDNF signaling evokes both short- and long-term periods of enhanced synaptic physiology in both pre- and postsynaptic compartments of central synapses. Specifically, BDNF/TrkB signaling converges on the MAP kinase pathway to enhance excitatory synaptic transmission in vivo, as well as hippocampal-dependent learning in behaving animals. Emerging concepts of the intracellular signaling cascades involved in synaptic plasticity induced through environmental interactions resulting in behavioral learning further support the contention that BDNF/TrkB signaling plays a fundamental role in mediating enduring changes in central synaptic structure and function. Here we review recent literature showing the involvement of BDNF/TrkB signaling in hippocampal-dependent learning paradigms, as well as in the types of cellular plasticity proposed to underlie learning and memory.

Modulation of neuronal calcium signaling by neurotrophic factors.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a member of the neurotrophin (NT) family, is emerging as a key mediator of activity-dependent modifications of synaptic strength in the central nervous system. Because of the well-established role of post-synaptic elevations in concentrations of free Ca(2+) ions ([Ca(2+)](i)) in synaptic plasticity, we investigated the hypothesis that BDNF exerts its neuromodulatory effects on hippocampal pyramidal neurons by enhancing dendritic [Ca(2+)](i) transients mediated by voltage-dependent Ca(2+) channels (VDCCs) during the firing of back-propagating action potentials. Simultaneous whole-cell recording and microfluorometric Ca(2+) imaging were performed in CA1 pyramidal neurons from hippocampal organotypic slice cultures treated with BDNF for 2-4 days in vitro. Our observations indicate that long-term exposure to BDNF does not affect [Ca(2+)](i) transients in apical dendrites mediated by influx through L-type VDCCs during trains of back-propagating action potentials evoked by direct depolarizing current injections. These results suggest that, despite BDNF's profound effects on hippocampal synaptic plasticity, and of L-type Ca(2+) channels on neuronal gene transcription, the role of BDNF in cellular models of hippocampus-dependent learning and memory does not involve modulation of voltage-gated dendritic Ca(2+) signaling mediated by L-type channels in apical dendrites of CA1 pyramidal neurons.