Human Neurogranin, Tag Free Protein (HA211156)

Neurogranin is a small neuronal protein that binds to calmodulin in the absence of Ca2+ . Calmodulin binds Ca2+ and acts as a Ca2+ sensor to drive Ca2+-dependent signal transduction pathways by modulating its interaction with various kinases and phosphatases. In the postsynaptic compartment of the neuron, Ca2+ is carefully regulated and is a critical regulator of synaptic function and plasticity . Neurogranin is primarily expressed in the brain and is enriched in somato-dendritic compartments of projection neurons in various regions of the brain. Postsynaptically-enriched neurogranin likely influences Ca2+ or Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent neuronal functions, including synaptic plasticity, by binding to and releasing calmodulin in a Ca2+-dependent manner. Genetic variants in the gene encoding neurogranin, NRGN, are linked to several neuropsychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia . Interestingly, increase in cerebrospinal fluid neurogranin is correlated with neurodegenerative disease progression, which suggests that neurogranin could act as a biomarker for diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.