Ca/CaM binding to CaMKI promotes IMA-3 importin binding and nuclear translocation in sensory neurons to control behavioral adaptation.

Sensory and behavioral plasticity are essential for animals to thrive in changing environments. As key effectors of intracellular calcium signaling, Ca/calmodulin-dependent protein kinases (CaMKs) can bridge neural activation with the many regulatory processes needed to orchestrate sensory adaptation, including by relaying signals to the nucleus. Here, we elucidate the molecular mechanism controlling the cell activation-dependent nuclear translocation of CMK-1, the ortholog of mammalian CaMKI/IV, in thermosensory neurons in vivo. We show that an intracellular Ca concentration elevation is necessary and sufficient to favor CMK-1 nuclear import. The binding of Ca/CaM to CMK-1 increases its affinity for IMA-3 importin, causing a redistribution with a relatively slow kinetics, matching the timescale of sensory adaptation. Furthermore, we show that this mechanism enables the encoding of opposite nuclear signals in neuron types with opposite calcium-responses and that it is essential for experience-dependent behavioral plasticity and gene transcription control in vivo. Since CaMKI/IV are conserved regulators of adaptable behaviors, similar mechanisms could exist in other organisms and for other sensory modalities.