Biomolecules (May 2023)

Tubulin Polyglutamylation by TTLL1 and TTLL7 Regulate Glutamate Concentration in the Mice Brain

  • Yashuang Ping,
  • Kenji Ohata,
  • Kenji Kikushima,
  • Takumi Sakamoto,
  • Ariful Islam,
  • Lili Xu,
  • Hengsen Zhang,
  • Bin Chen,
  • Jing Yan,
  • Fumihiro Eto,
  • Chiho Nakane,
  • Keizo Takao,
  • Tsuyoshi Miyakawa,
  • Katsuya Kabashima,
  • Miho Watanabe,
  • Tomoaki Kahyo,
  • Ikuko Yao,
  • Atsuo Fukuda,
  • Koji Ikegami,
  • Yoshiyuki Konishi,
  • Mitsutoshi Setou

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13050784
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 5
p. 784

Abstract

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As an important neurotransmitter, glutamate acts in over 90% of excitatory synapses in the human brain. Its metabolic pathway is complicated, and the glutamate pool in neurons has not been fully elucidated. Tubulin polyglutamylation in the brain is mainly mediated by two tubulin tyrosine ligase-like (TTLL) proteins, TTLL1 and TTLL7, which have been indicated to be important for neuronal polarity. In this study, we constructed pure lines of Ttll1 and Ttll7 knockout mice. Ttll knockout mice showed several abnormal behaviors. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) Imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) analyses of these brains showed increases in glutamate, suggesting that tubulin polyglutamylation by these TTLLs acts as a pool of glutamate in neurons and modulates some other amino acids related to glutamate.

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