Immediate early gene c‐fos regulates the synthesis of phospholipids but not of gangliosides

Abstract

Retinal ganglion cells isolated from chicks that in vivo were exposed to light have a higher phospholipid labeling capacity than those obtained from animals in the dark. Actinomycin D or a mixture of protein synthesis inhibitors or of antisense oligonucleotides to c fos plus c‐jun injected intraocularly 1 hr prior to the stimulation period, abolished the light‐dark differences for phospholipids but not for gangliosides. Light stimulation induced the formation (and/or stabilization) of c fos mRNA and of the protein c‐Fos, indicating that immediate early gene induction, and consequently the synthesis of the protein(s) encoded, is essential to increase the synthesis of phospholipids but not of gangliosides. These results suggest a novel mechanism by which immediate early genes engram neural cells, modifying specifically the metabolism of cell constituents producing long‐lasting changes in the cells.