[FRIAM] Arc gene transports mRNA's across synapses

[Tom Johnson]

Thanks, gentlemen.
TJ

On Jan 15, 2018 6:30 PM, "Roger Critchlow" <rec at elf.org> wrote:

> Tom --
>
> The original twitter thread where I learned of the paper was
> https://twitter.com/casa_tuthill/status/951902638571905024 and it
> expressed a mixture of respect and jealousy for the groups reporting the
> discovery.
>
> https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/01/brain-
> cells-can-share-information-using-a-gene-that-came-from-viruses/550403/
> might clarify, but it's still a bit abbreviated.
>
> Clearly, once they had isolated the gene, they would have found the family
> resemblance to the retroviruses that they eventually used to identify the
> ancestor gene, but that resemblance would have been more puzzling than
> helpful.
>
> Searching twitter for "arc gene" generates an interesting list of tweets
> about the discovery.
>
>  -- rec --
>
> On Mon, Jan 15, 2018 at 4:47 PM, Marcus Daniels <marcus at snoutfarm.com>
> wrote:
>
>> < That said, wouldn't it be grand if authors of papers like this would
>> embed in the summary a link to a sidebar showing "Here's how we did this."
>> i.e. how does one render "Purified Arc capsids"? >
>>
>> The Cell paper explains in terse "you should know this" language.  I
>> agree it would be nice if publishers would add value by providing link
>> modes in the browser to reference not just prior work, but also textbook
>> explanations for technical terms and techniques.  That would make topics
>> like this understandable to a larger (motivated) audience.  Not every topic
>> should expect a reader to unfold references back in time indefinitely.
>>
>> Marcus
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> on behalf of Tom Johnson <
>> tom at jtjohnson.com>
>> *Sent:* Monday, January 15, 2018 2:12:21 PM
>> *To:* Friam at redfish. com
>> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Arc gene transports mRNA's across synapses
>>
>> Roger:
>> I really appreciate your sending this along.  That said, wouldn't it be
>> grand if authors of papers like this would embed in the summary a link to a
>> sidebar showing "Here's how we did this." i.e. how does one render "Purified
>> Arc capsids"?
>> TJ
>>
>> On Jan 15, 2018 12:19 PM, "Barry MacKichan" <
>> barry.mackichan at mackichan.com> wrote:
>>
>> Object-oriented programming in the cell, with encapsulated code!
>>
>> --Barry
>>
>> On 13 Jan 2018, at 17:47, Roger Critchlow wrote:
>>
>> In case you thought you understood the general molecular biology of life,
>> here's another curve ball for you:
>>
>> http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(17)31504-0
>>
>> Summary
>>
>> The neuronal gene *Arc* is essential for long-lasting information
>> storage in the mammalian brain, mediates various forms of synaptic
>> plasticity, and has been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders.
>> However, little is known about Arc’s molecular function and evolutionary
>> origins. Here, we show that Arc self-assembles into virus-like capsids that
>> encapsulate RNA. Endogenous Arc protein is released from neurons in
>> extracellular vesicles that mediate the transfer of *Arc* mRNA into new
>> target cells, where it can undergo activity-dependent translation. Purified
>> Arc capsids are endocytosed and are able to transfer *Arc* mRNA into the
>> cytoplasm of neurons. These results show that Arc exhibits similar
>> molecular properties to retroviral Gag proteins. Evolutionary analysis
>> indicates that Arc is derived from a vertebrate lineage of Ty3/*gypsy* retrotransposons,
>> which are also ancestors to retroviruses. These findings suggest that Gag
>> retroelements have been repurposed during evolution to mediate
>> intercellular communication in the nervous system.
>> -- rec --
>>
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>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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>
>
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> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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