Scientists Discover Memory Protein Forming Chains

Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI) at Kanazawa University, Kyoto University, SOKENDAI, and the National Institute for Physiological Sciences have revealed how CaMKII - a key brain protein involved in learning and memory - organizes itself into chain-like structures. Their study, published in Science Advances, shows how activation causes these protein structures to grow and how a mutation associated with neurodevelopmental disorders changes their organization, findings that could deepen our understanding of memory formation and neurological disease.

As new memories form the connections between brain cells can become stronger. A protein called CaMKII plays an important part in this process and is found in especially large amounts at the points where brain cells communicate. Scientists have long known that more of this protein gathers at active connections, but they have not been able to see clearly how the individual protein molecules come together.