Metabolic enzyme fuels epigenetic machinery that is key to laying down spatial memories

Hot topic. Researchers at Penn have discovered that the metabolic enzyme ACSS2 ‘fuels' a whole machinery of gene expression ‘on site’ in the nucleus of neurons, to activate key memory genes after learning. Forming memories involves the restructuring of synapses, a process that relies on the coordinated expression of a group of memory genes. During memory formation, ACSS2 produces the metabolite acetyl-CoA near these genes. The addition of this chemical group, called acetylation, opens up tightly-wound DNA to make genes involved in memory available to be “read,” and eventually, for their encoded proteins to be made. This entirely novel mechanism of neuronal gene regulation provides new avenues in developing epigenetic therapies for memory disorders. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature22405