Team : CHOQUET
Research Projects
Cytoskeleton and membrane interplay in synaptic organization and functions (Anna Brachet).
Project Leader(s): Anna Brachet
Tel. (+33) 5 33 51 47 32
Anna Brachet is a CNRS researcher. She was trained as a cell biologist in the Lab of Benedicte Dargent in Marseille (France), where she studied the dynamic organization and diffusion of sodium channels. She demonstrated the importance of the ankyrin-spectrin cytoskeleton in the restriction of sodium channels membrane diffusion at the axon initial segment (Brachet et al. JCB 2008 and Brachet et al. JCB 2010). During her post-doc in the lab of Jose A. Esteban in Madrid (Spain), she discovered that LTP-triggered cholesterol redistribution activates Cdc42 and drives AMPA receptor synaptic delivery (Brachet et al., JCB 2015) and analyzed kinesin 1 role during long term depression (Brachet et al., Cell report 2021). In 2017, she joined the team of Daniel Choquet and launched a new research project on the role of spectrin and membrane interplay in synaptic functions.
Scientific Context
This activity is headed by Anna Brachet (CR, senior researcher) and currently involves Shuai Hong (post-doctoral fellow), Léa Sarzynski and Théo Dudon (PhD students). Her objective is to study the role of cytoskeleton proteins and their interactions with membrane lipids in the dynamic regulation of neuronal and astrocytic morphology, mechano-sensing properties and physiology.
Past and current funding sources include grants from Labex Brain 2017, FRM retour postdoc (for ML Jobin) 2019, SeedProject Neurocampus 2020, ANR JCJC 2021, GPR Brain 2022, GPR LIGHT 2024 and SeedProject Neurocampus 2024.
Selected Publications
Brachet A, Norwood S, Brouwers JF, Palomar E, Helms JB, Dotti CG and Esteban JA. The Journal of Cell Biology 2015, Mars16;208(6):791-806. (F1000)
Tetrodotoxin-resistant voltage gated sodium channel Nav1.8 constitutively interacts with ankyrin G.
Montersino A, Brachet A, Fache MP, Angles d’Ortoli S, Liu W, Feracci G, Rueda-Boroni F, Castets F and Dargent B. The Journal of Neurochemistry 2014 June 5; 131:33-41.
Determinants of voltage-gated sodium channel clustering in neurons.
Leterrier C, Brachet A, Dargent B and Vacher H. Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology 2011 Apr;22(2):171-7.
Ankyrin G restricts ion channel diffusion at the axonal initial segment before the establishment of the diffusion barrier.
Brachet A, Leterrier C, Irondelle M, Fache MP, Racine V, Sibarita JB, Choquet D, Dargent B. The Journal of Cell Biology 2010 Oct 18;191(2):383-95.
Protein kinase Casein Kinase 2 contributes to the organization of sodium channels in axonal membranes by regulating their interactions with ankyrin G.
Bréchet A, Fache MP, Brachet A, Ferracci G, Baude A, Irondelle M, Pereira S, Leterrier C, Dargent B. The Journal of Cell Biology 2008 Dec 15;183(6):1101-14.
Current collaborations:
Gregory Giannone (IINS) and Brahim Lounis (LP2N) on the mechano-sensing properties of the axon and axon initial segment.
Matthieu Sainlos (IINS) on the development of specific probes for spectrins.
Aude Panatier (NCM) on the role of astrocytic and neuronal cytoskeleton in the tripartite synapse.
Past members:
Marie-Lise Jobin, former post-doc now Maîtresse de Conférences (INP, Bordeaux).
Fundings
ANR JCJC MorphoSpectrin, GPR BRAIN 2022, Seed Project 2024 and GPR LIGHT 2024