In neurons, the distinct molecular composition of axons and dendrites is established through polarized targeting mechanisms, but it is currently unclear how nonpolarized cargoes, such as mitochondria, become uniformly distributed over these specialized neuronal compartments. Here, we show that TRAK family adaptor proteins, TRAK1 and TRAK2, which link mitochondria to microtubule-based motors, are required for axonal and dendritic mitochondrial motility and utilize different transport machineries to steer mitochondria into axons and dendrites. TRAK1 binds to both kinesin-1 and dynein/dynactin, is prominently localized in axons, and is needed for normal axon outgrowth, whereas TRAK2 predominantly interacts with dynein/dynactin, is more abundantly present in dendrites, and is required for dendritic development. These functional differences follow from their distinct conformations: TRAK2 preferentially adopts a head-to-tail interaction, which interferes with kinesin-1 binding and axonal transport. Our study demonstrates how the molecular interplay between bidirectional adaptor proteins and distinct microtubule-based motors drives polarized mitochondrial transport.

NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors and calcium can exert multiple and very divergent effects within neuronal cells, thereby impacting opposing occurrences such as synaptic plasticity and neuronal degeneration. The neuronal Ca2+ sensor Caldendrin is a postsynaptic density component with high similarity to calmodulin. Jacob, a recently identified Caldendrin binding partner, is a novel protein abundantly expressed in limbic brain and cerebral cortex. Strictly depending upon activation of NMDA-type glutamate receptors, Jacob is recruited to neuronal nuclei, resulting in a rapid stripping of synaptic contacts and in a drastically altered morphology of the dendritic tree. Jacob's nuclear trafficking from distal dendrites crucially requires the classical Importin pathway. Caldendrin binds to Jacob's nuclear localization signal in a Ca2+-dependent manner, thereby controlling Jacob's extranuclear localization by competing with the binding of Importin-α to Jacob's nuclear localization signal. This competition requires sustained synapto-dendritic Ca2+ levels, which presumably cannot be achieved by activation of extrasynaptic NMDA receptors, but are confined to Ca2+ microdomains such as postsynaptic spines. Extrasynaptic NMDA receptors, as opposed to their synaptic counterparts, trigger the cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) shut-off pathway, and cell death. We found that nuclear knockdown of Jacob prevents CREB shut-off after extrasynaptic NMDA receptor activation, whereas its nuclear overexpression induces CREB shut-off without NMDA receptor stimulation. Importantly, nuclear knockdown of Jacob attenuates NMDA-induced loss of synaptic contacts, and neuronal degeneration. This defines a novel mechanism of synapse-to-nucleus communication via a synaptic Ca2+-sensor protein, which links the activity of NMDA receptors to nuclear signalling events involved in modelling synapto-dendritic input and NMDA receptor–induced cellular degeneration.

The activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptors (NMDARs) in synapses provides plasticity and cell survival signals, whereas NMDARs residing in the neuronal membrane outside synapses trigger neurodegeneration. At present, it is unclear how these opposing signals are transduced to and discriminated by the nucleus. In this study, we demonstrate that Jacob is a protein messenger that encodes the origin of synaptic versus extrasynaptic NMDAR signals and delivers them to the nucleus. Exclusively synaptic, but not extrasynaptic, NMDAR activation induces phosphorylation of Jacob at serine-180 by ERK1/2. Long-distance trafficking of Jacob from synaptic, but not extrasynaptic, sites depends on ERK activity, and association with fragments of the intermediate filament α-internexin hinders dephosphorylation of the Jacob/ERK complex during nuclear transit. In the nucleus, the phosphorylation state of Jacob determines whether it induces cell death or promotes cell survival and enhances synaptic plasticity.