The memory gene KIBRA is a bidirectional regulator of synaptic and structural plasticity in the adult brain

Abstract

Memory formation is associated with activity-dependent changes in synaptic plasticity. The mechanisms underlying these processes are complex and involve multiple components. Recent work has implicated the protein KIBRA in human memory, but its molecular functions in memory processes remain not fully understood. Here, we show that a selective overexpression of KIBRA in neurons increases hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) but prevents the induction of long-term depression (LTD), and impairs spatial long-term memory in adult mice. KIBRA overexpression increases the constitutive recycling of AMPA receptors containing GluA1 (GluA1-AMPARs), and favors their activity-dependent surface expression. It also results in dramatic dendritic rearrangements in pyramidal neurons both in vitro and in vivo. KIBRA knockdown in contrast, abolishes LTP, decreases GluA1-AMPARs recycling and reduces dendritic arborization. These results establish KIBRA as a novel bidirectional regulator of synaptic and structural plasticity in hippocampal neurons, and of long-term memory, highly relevant to cognitive processes and their pathologies.