MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY OF AMPA RECEPTORS
Laboratory of Kari Keinänen
Viikki Biocenter
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Division of Biochemistry
P.O.Box 56 (Street address: Viikinkaari 5)
FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FINLAND
Our interests
Who we are?
Recent Publications
Funding
Links
The amino acid L-glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in vertebrates. Its fast synaptic actions are mediated by ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluR), which fall into three major classes, named after high-affinity agonists as AMPA, kainate and NMDA receptors. These are tetrameric transmembrane cation channels which open transiently in response to glutamate binding. The resulting flux of sodium, and sometimes calcium, ions into the postsynaptic cell causes depolarization of the membrane potential and triggers biochemical changes in the synapse. Such changes are believed to underlie learning and memory and include modifications of the type and abundance of synaptic iGluR, most notably of AMPA subclass.
RESEARCH FOCUS: MOLECULAR INTERACTIONS OF AMPA RECEPTORS
We are using molecular biological and biochemical tools to study the structure, function and regulation of AMPA receptors in molecular detail. In particular, we wish to understand the mechanisms which regulate the assembly and cellular transport of AMPA receptors. Current research topics include:
1. the role of the scaffolding proteins SAP97/Dlg1 and 4.1N in AMPA receptor trafficking
2. the assembly of homomeric and heteromeric AMPA receptors from subunits
3. structural characterization of molecular interactions of AMPA receptors.
PHONE
- international: +358 9 191 +extension (see below)
- domestic: (09) 191 +extension (see below)
FAX
- international: +358 9 191 59068
- domestic: (09) 191 59068
E-mail addresses
- firstname.lastname@helsinki.fi
GROUP MEMBERS
Name |
Phone extension |
Chunlin Cai, M.D. |
59 053 |
Sarah Coleman, Ph.D. |
59 053 |
Kari Keinänen, Ph.D., Principal Investigator |
59 606 |
Taru Kostiainen, technician |
59 566, 59 051 |
Artur Semenov, Ph.D. |
59 534 |
Lotta von Ossowski, M.Sc. |
59 534 |
Collaboration
We collaborate extensively with local and foreign scientists including Claudio Rivera (Helsinki), Esa Korpi (Helsinki), Leo Khiroug (Helsinki), and Tetsuya Haruyama (Fukuoka, Japan)
- Möykkynen TP, Coleman SK, Keinänen K, Lovinger DM & Korpi ER (2009) Ethanol increases desensitization of recombinant GluR-D AMPA receptor and TARP combinations. Alcohol (in press)
- Coleman SK, Möykkynen T, Jouppila A, Koskelainen S, Rivera C, Korpi ER & Keinänen K (2009) Agonist occupancy is essential for forward trafficking of AMPA receptors. J Neurosci 29: 303-312. [PubMed]
- Cai C, Li H, Kangasniemi A, Pihlajamaa T, von Ossowski L, Kerkelä K, Schulz S, Rivera C & Keinänen K (2008) Somatostatin receptor sst1 is a PDZ ligand for SAP97 and a potential regulator of growth cone dynamics. Neuroscience 157: 833-843. [PubMed]
- Li H, Khirug S, Cai C, Ludwig A, Blaesse P, Kolikova J, Afzalov R, Coleman SK, Lauri S, Airaksinen MS, Keinänen K, Khiroug L, Saarma M, Kaila K and Rivera C (2007) KCC2 interacts with the dendritic cytoskeleton to promote spine development. Neuron 56: 1019-1033. [PubMed]
- von Ossowski I, Oksanen E, von Ossowski L, Cai C, Sundberg M, Goldman A and Keinänen K (2006) Crystal structure of the second PDZ domain of SAP97 in complex with a GluR-A C-terminal peptide. FEBS J 273: 5219-5229. [PubMed]
- Coleman SK, Möykkynen T, Cai C, von Ossowski L, Kuismanen E, Korpi ER and Keinänen K (2006) Isoform specific early trafficking of AMPA receptor flip and flop variants. J Neurosci 26: 11220-11229. [PubMed]
- von Ossowski L, Tossavainen H, von Ossowski I, Cai C, Aitio O, Fredriksson K, Permi P, Annila A and Keinänen K (2006) Peptide binding and NMR analysis of the interaction between SAP97 PDZ2 and GluR-A: Potential involvement of a disulfide bond. Biochemistry 45:5567-5575. [PubMed]
- Cai C, Li H, Rivera C & Keinänen K (2006) Interaction between SAP97 and PSD-95, two Maguk proteins involved in synaptic trafficking of AMPA receptors. J Biol Chem 281:4267-4273. [PubMed]
The Academy of Finland
University of Helsinki
Finnish Graduate School of Neuroscience
National Graduate School of Informational and Structural Biology
Local
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Viikki Biocenter
Databases and Molecular Tools
ExPASy
European Bioinformatics Institute
Finnish Bioinformatics Services (CSC)
Protein Data Bank
Restriction Maps (TACG)
ClustalW Sequence Alignment
SMART (Protein Domain Analysis)
PFAM (Protein Domains and Families)
Oligo Calculator
Updated on 11 June, 2009 (Kari Keinänen)