Hippocampal ring finger protein 10-dependent signaling supports cognitive flexibility

Summary: The ability to flexibly adapt behavior to changing environmental contingencies is a core component of brain function and relies on experience-dependent remodeling of neural circuits. While cognitive flexibility has been primarily attributed to prefrontal-striatal networks, the contribution of hippocampus and its underlying molecular substrates remains less understood. Here, we show that the dorsal hippocampus has a key role in cognitive flexibility. Ring finger protein 10 (RNF10)-mediated signaling, linking activation of synaptic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) to specific transcriptional programs in the dorsal CA1, is necessary for cognitive flexibility. In fact, in vivo downregulation, through gene deletion and silencing of RNF10, resulting in impaired long-term synaptic plasticity, suppressed cognitive flexibility. This was reflected in the impaired ability to disengage from previously acquired contextual, visual, and spatial information and to adapt behavior to changed context. Overall, we identified RNF10 as a key in vivo player necessary for the balance between cognitive stability and flexibility.