Co-option of CENP-A for activity-induced neuronal plasticity

More specifically, we find that CENP-A containing chromatin controls expression of Immediate Early Genes (IEGs); a set of transcriptional factors crucial for neuronal firing, long-term potentiation and memory formation. Downregulation of CENP-A impairs IEGs expression and causes memory defects.

Furthermore, we show that this behavior of CENP-A is evolutionary conserved between rodents and humans, whereby human forebrain organoids display a similar dependency on CENP-A expression for neuronal activation. Therefore, we attribute a novel, mitotic-independent role to CENP-A in hippocampal neurons, thus providing direct evidence that a distinct chromatin state is a necessary requirement for memory formation. CENP-A Chip seq on dissected hippocampi from C57BL/6 mice.