Differential roles of GRIP1a and GRIP1b in AMPA receptor trafficking

Regulated trafficking controls AMPA receptor (AMPAR) number at the postsynaptic membrane to modify the efficiency of synaptic transmission. The PDZ proteins GRIP1 and the related ABP-L/GRIP2 bind AMPAR subunit GluA2, and have been proposed to play a role in AMPAR trafficking associated with Long Term Depression (LTD) of synaptic transmission. Both GRIP1 and ABP-L/GRIP2 exist in different splice isoforms, including alternative 18 amino acid domains at the extreme N-terminus, which determine whether the protein can be palmitoylated. The implications of this differential splicing for AMPAR trafficking is unknown. Here, we use surface biotinylation and quantitative Western blotting to show that the N-terminal splice variants GRIP1a and GRIP1b have differential effects in NMDA-induced AMPAR internalization in cultured hippocampal neurons. GRIP1a inhibits, but GRIP1b enhances this trafficking event. We further demonstrate that GRIP1a and GRIP1b have dramatically different subcellular distributions in cultured neurons and exhibit NMDA-dependent colocalisation with early endosomes. We propose that GRIP1 palmitoylation modulates NMDA-induced AMPAR internalisation by differential regulation of the early endosomal system.