Profilin, a multi-modal regulator of neuronal plasticity

Thirty years after its initial characterization and mitre than 1000 publications listed in PubMed describing its properties, the small (call 5 kDa) protein profilin continues to surprise us with new, recently discovered functions. Originally described as an actin-binding protein, profilin has now been shown to interact with more than a dozen proteins in mammalian cells. Some of the more recently described and intriguing interactions are within neurons involving a neuronal profilin family member. Profilin is now regarded as a regulator of various cellular processes such as cytoskeletal dynamics, membrane trafficking and nuclear transport. Profilin is a necessary element in key steps of neuronal differentiation and synaptic plasticity, and embodies properties postulated for a synaptic tag. These findings identify profilin as an important factor linking cellular and behavioural plasticity in neural circuits. BioEssays 30:994-1002, 2008. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.