Hunting Increases Phosphorylation of Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type II in Adult Barn Owls

Juvenile barn owls readily adapt to prismatic spectacles, whereas adult owls living under standard aviary conditions do not. We previously demonstrated that phosphorylation of the cyclic-AMP response element-binding protein (CREB) provides a readout of the instructive signals that guide plasticity i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Grant S. Nichols, William M. DeBello
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2015-01-01
Series:Neural Plasticity
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/819257
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850107461759926272
author Grant S. Nichols
William M. DeBello
author_facet Grant S. Nichols
William M. DeBello
author_sort Grant S. Nichols
collection DOAJ
description Juvenile barn owls readily adapt to prismatic spectacles, whereas adult owls living under standard aviary conditions do not. We previously demonstrated that phosphorylation of the cyclic-AMP response element-binding protein (CREB) provides a readout of the instructive signals that guide plasticity in juveniles. Here we investigated phosphorylation of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (pCaMKII) in both juveniles and adults. In contrast to CREB, we found no differences in pCaMKII expression between prism-wearing and control juveniles within the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICX), the major site of plasticity. For prism-wearing adults that hunted live mice and are capable of adaptation, expression of pCaMKII was increased relative to prism-wearing adults that fed passively on dead mice and are not capable of adaptation. This effect did not bear the hallmarks of instructive information: it was not localized to rostral ICX and did not exhibit a patchy distribution reflecting discrete bimodal stimuli. These data are consistent with a role for CaMKII as a permissive rather than an instructive factor. In addition, the paucity of pCaMKII expression in passively fed adults suggests that the permissive default setting is “off” in adults.
format Article
id doaj-art-4b41d7d2124c4a349289e0bcdc8bdf36
institution OA Journals
issn 2090-5904
1687-5443
language English
publishDate 2015-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Neural Plasticity
spelling doaj-art-4b41d7d2124c4a349289e0bcdc8bdf362025-08-20T02:38:35ZengWileyNeural Plasticity2090-59041687-54432015-01-01201510.1155/2015/819257819257Hunting Increases Phosphorylation of Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type II in Adult Barn OwlsGrant S. Nichols0William M. DeBello1Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, Center for Neuroscience, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95618, USADepartment of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, Center for Neuroscience, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95618, USAJuvenile barn owls readily adapt to prismatic spectacles, whereas adult owls living under standard aviary conditions do not. We previously demonstrated that phosphorylation of the cyclic-AMP response element-binding protein (CREB) provides a readout of the instructive signals that guide plasticity in juveniles. Here we investigated phosphorylation of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (pCaMKII) in both juveniles and adults. In contrast to CREB, we found no differences in pCaMKII expression between prism-wearing and control juveniles within the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICX), the major site of plasticity. For prism-wearing adults that hunted live mice and are capable of adaptation, expression of pCaMKII was increased relative to prism-wearing adults that fed passively on dead mice and are not capable of adaptation. This effect did not bear the hallmarks of instructive information: it was not localized to rostral ICX and did not exhibit a patchy distribution reflecting discrete bimodal stimuli. These data are consistent with a role for CaMKII as a permissive rather than an instructive factor. In addition, the paucity of pCaMKII expression in passively fed adults suggests that the permissive default setting is “off” in adults.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/819257
spellingShingle Grant S. Nichols
William M. DeBello
Hunting Increases Phosphorylation of Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type II in Adult Barn Owls
Neural Plasticity
title Hunting Increases Phosphorylation of Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type II in Adult Barn Owls
title_full Hunting Increases Phosphorylation of Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type II in Adult Barn Owls
title_fullStr Hunting Increases Phosphorylation of Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type II in Adult Barn Owls
title_full_unstemmed Hunting Increases Phosphorylation of Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type II in Adult Barn Owls
title_short Hunting Increases Phosphorylation of Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type II in Adult Barn Owls
title_sort hunting increases phosphorylation of calcium calmodulin dependent protein kinase type ii in adult barn owls
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/819257
work_keys_str_mv AT grantsnichols huntingincreasesphosphorylationofcalciumcalmodulindependentproteinkinasetypeiiinadultbarnowls
AT williammdebello huntingincreasesphosphorylationofcalciumcalmodulindependentproteinkinasetypeiiinadultbarnowls