Project Summary

Zhi Li, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2006) of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, will investigate how a variant in the gene for BDNF, a major neuronal growth factor, affects its ability to function in neurons. While it is assumed that a well-known variant in BDNF (which causes a single amino-acid change in BDNF) misroutes the protein away from dendrites, recent evidence suggests that variant BDNF mRNA also is excluded from these processes. Dr. Li has evidence the variant may impair binding of BDNF mRNA to a protein complex, Translin/Trax, that has been implicated in regulating transport of RNA into dendrites. Dr. Li will test whether the variant impairs the association of BDNF mRNA with the Translin/Trax complex and this defective interaction interferes with the access of BDNF mRNA (and protein) to dendritic processes. Results would set the stage for follow-up studies aimed at examining whether polymorphisms in the genes encoding Translin and/or Trax act synergistically with this BDNF variant as susceptibility factors for psychiatric disorders.

Program Area: MULTIPLE FOCUS\Mood Disorders/Schizophrenia

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