Novel role and mechanism of protein inhibitor of activated STAT1 in spatial learning

By using differential display PCR, we have previously identified 98 cDNA fragments from rat dorsal hippocampus, which are expressed differentially between the fast learners and slow learners from water-maze learning task. One cDNA fragment, which showed a higher expression level in fast learners, encodes the rat protein inhibitor of activated STAT1 (pias1) gene. Spatial training induced a significant increase in PIAS1 expression in rat hippocampus. Transient transfection of the wild-type (WT) PIAS1 plasmid to CA1 neurons facilitated, whereas transfection of PIAS1 siRNA impaired spatial learning in rats. Meanwhile, PIAS1WT increased STAT1 sumoylation, decreased STAT1 DNA binding and decreased STAT1 phosphorylation at Tyr-701 associated with spatial learning facilitation. But PIAS1 siRNA transfection produced an opposite effect on these measures associated with spatial learning impairment. Further, transfection of STAT1 sumoylation mutant impaired spatial acquisition, whereas transfection of STAT1 phosphorylation mutant blocked the impairing effect of PIAS1 siRNA on spatial learning. In this study, we first demonstrate the role of PIAS1 in spatial learning. Both posttranslational modifications (increased sumoylation and decreased phosphorylation) mediate the effect of PIAS1 on spatial learning facilitation.