aPKC in neuronal differentiation, maturation and function

Sophie M Hapak; Carla V Rothlin; Sourav Ghosh

doi:10.1042/NS20190019

aPKC in neuronal differentiation, maturation and function

Neuronal Signal. 2019 Sep;3(3):NS20190019. doi: 10.1042/NS20190019. Epub 2019 Sep 23.

Authors

Sophie M Hapak¹, Carla V Rothlin^{2

3}, Sourav Ghosh^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Minnesota, 401 East River Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55455, U.S.A.
² Department of Immunobiology, School of Medicine, Yale University, 300 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06520, U.S.A.
³ Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Yale University, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06520, U.S.A.
⁴ Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Yale University, 300 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06520, U.S.A.

Abstract

The atypical Protein Kinase Cs (aPKCs)-PRKCI, PRKCZ and PKMζ-form a subfamily within the Protein Kinase C (PKC) family. These kinases are expressed in the nervous system, including during its development and in adulthood. One of the aPKCs, PKMζ, appears to be restricted to the nervous system. aPKCs are known to play a role in a variety of cellular responses such as proliferation, differentiation, polarity, migration, survival and key metabolic functions such as glucose uptake, that are critical for nervous system development and function. Therefore, these kinases have garnered a lot of interest in terms of their functional role in the nervous system. Here we review the expression and function of aPKCs in neural development and in neuronal maturation and function. Despite seemingly paradoxical findings with genetic deletion versus gene silencing approaches, we posit that aPKCs are likely candidates for regulating many important neurodevelopmental and neuronal functions, and may be associated with a number of human neuropsychiatric diseases.

Keywords: learning and memory; neurodevelopment; neuronal differentiation.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

R01 CA149258/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States