TY - JOUR AU - Puighermanal, Emma AU - Biever, Anne AU - Pascoli, Vincent AU - Melser, Su AU - Pratlong, Marine AU - Cutando, Laura AU - Rialle, Stephanie AU - Severac, Dany AU - Boubaker-Vitre, Jihane AU - Meyuhas, Oded AU - Marsicano, Giovanni AU - Lüscher, Christian AU - Valjent, Emmanuel PY - 2017 M3 - Original Research TI - Ribosomal Protein S6 Phosphorylation Is Involved in Novelty-Induced Locomotion, Synaptic Plasticity and mRNA Translation JO - Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2017.00419 VL - 10 SN - 1662-5099 N2 - The phosphorylation of the ribosomal protein S6 (rpS6) is widely used to track neuronal activity. Although it is generally assumed that rpS6 phosphorylation has a stimulatory effect on global protein synthesis in neurons, its exact biological function remains unknown. By using a phospho-deficient rpS6 knockin mouse model, we directly tested the role of phospho-rpS6 in mRNA translation, plasticity and behavior. The analysis of multiple brain areas shows for the first time that, in neurons, phospho-rpS6 is dispensable for overall protein synthesis. Instead, we found that phospho-rpS6 controls the translation of a subset of mRNAs in a specific brain region, the nucleus accumbens (Acb), but not in the dorsal striatum. We further show that rpS6 phospho-mutant mice display altered long-term potentiation (LTP) in the Acb and enhanced novelty-induced locomotion. Collectively, our findings suggest a previously unappreciated role of phospho-rpS6 in the physiology of the Acb, through the translation of a selective subclass of mRNAs, rather than the regulation of general protein synthesis. ER -