Acetylation of calmodulin regulates synaptic plasticity and fear learning

Synaptic plasticity is critical for brain function, including learning and memory. It is regulated by gene transcription and protein synthesis as well as posttranslational modifications at synapses. Although protein acetylation has been shown to be involved in the regulation of synaptic plasticity, this was mainly for histone protein acetylation. To investigate whether acetylation of nonhistone proteins is important for synaptic plasticity, we analyzed mouse brain acetylome and found that calmodulin (CaM), a ubiquitous Ca2+ sensor, was acetylated on three lysine residues, which were conserved across species. NMDA receptor-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP) is considered the most compelling form of synaptic plasticity. During LTP induction, activation of NMDA receptor triggers Ca2+ influx, and the Ca2+ binds with CaM and activates calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II alpha (CaMKII alpha), which is essential for LTP induction. By using home-generated and site-specific antibodies against acetylated CaM, we show that CaM acetylation is upregulated by neural activities in an NMDA receptor-dependent manner. Moreover, mutation of acetyllysines in CaM1 proteins disrupts synaptic plasticity and fear learning in a mouse model. We further demonstrate that acetylation of CaM reduces the binding free energy and increases the binding affinity toward CaMKII alpha, a protein kinase pivotal to synaptic plasticity and learning. Taken together, our results demonstrate importance of CaM acetylation in regulating synaptic plasticity and learning.