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Original Research ARTICLE

CPEB3 is associated with human episodic memory

Christian Vogler^1,2, Klara Spalek^1,2, Amanda Aerni³, Philippe Demougin^1,2, Ariane Müller^1,2, Kim-Dung Huynh^1,2, Andreas Papassotiropoulos^1,2 and Dominique J.-F. de Quervain^3,4*

Division of Molecular Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Life Science Training Facility, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Division of Psychiatry Research, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding (CPEB) proteins are crucial for synaptic plasticity and memory in model organisms. A highly conserved, mammalian-specific short intronic sequence within CPEB3 has been identified as a ribozyme with self-cleavage properties. In humans, the ribozyme sequence is polymorphic and harbors a single nucleotide polymorphism that influences cleavage activity of the ribozyme. Here we show that this variation is related to performance in an episodic memory task and that the effect of the variation depends on the emotional valence of the presented material. Our data suggest a role for human CPEB3 in human episodic memory.

Keywords:

CPEB3, emotional, episodic, memory, polymorphism

Citation:

Vogler C, Spalek K, Aerni A, Demougin P, Müller A, Huynh KD, Papassotiropoulos A and de Quervain DJF (2009). CPEB3 is associated with human episodic memory. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 3:4. doi: 10.3389/neuro. 08.004.2009

Received:

15 December 2008;

Paper pending published:

09 January 2009;

Accepted:

20 April 2009;

Published online:

04 May 2009.

Edited by:

Isabelle Mansuy, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Reviewed by:

Andre Fischer, European Neuroscience Institute, Germany
Irini Skaliora, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Greece
Satoshi Kida, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan

© 2009 Vogler, Spalek, Aerni, Demougin, Müller, Huynh, Papassotiropoulos and de Quervain. This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

*Correspondence:

Dominique J.-F. de Quervain, Division of Psychiatry Research, University of Zurich, Lenggstr. 31, CH 8032 Zurich, Switzerland. e-mail: quervain@bli.uzh.ch