Structure and Regulation of Type II Calcium/Calmodulin-dependent Protein Kinase in Central Nervous System Neurons

Abstract

In a recent talk at Caltech, David Baltimore suggested that molecular biology (the study of gene expression) and neurobiology are at similar stages. Both fields have identified many of the cast of important characters, but we still have much to learn about mechanisms and algorithms. In molecular neurobiology, the "mechanisms" are the ways that individual proteins work together to regulate release of transmitter or to modulate receptors and ion channels. The "algorithms" are the ways that these mechanisms are coordinated to allow neurons to maintain homeostasis, while at the same time adapting to changes in the external environment and storing information through molecular changes that alter the behavior of neural networks.