CREB1 Gene

The cAMP response element-binding protein 1 (CREB1) gene is a CREB activator and has been found to facilitate long-term memory formation.

The cAMP response element-binding protein 1 (CREB1) gene is a CREB activator and has been found to facilitate long-term memory formation.

CAMP response element-binding (CREB) proteins are transcription factors which bind to sequences of DNA called cAMP response elements. When signals arrive at receptors (e.g. glutamate receptors) on a cell’s surface, a series of protein-protein interactions lead to the production of cAMP, which in turn activates a protein kinase. This kinase migrates to the cell’s nucleus where it activates CREB. Once activated, CREB proteins coordinate a series of interactions. CREB proteins in neurons are involved in the formation of long-term memories and long-term potentiation. CREB1 is a CREB activator, which means it facilitates long-term memory formation. A 1995 paper by Jerry Yin and Tim Tully at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory examined the CREB1 protein in fruit flies (or rather the fruit fly homolog dCREB2). Overproduction of the protein led the flies to develop an equivalent of photographic memory.