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PMID: 17645391 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Open syntaxin docks synaptic vesicles.

PLoS biology ·Vol. 5 ·No. 8 ·2007-08-00 ·Pages e198

Hammarlund M, Palfreyman MT, Watanabe S, Olsen S, Jorgensen EM

Abstract

Synaptic vesicles dock to the plasma membrane at synapses to facilitate rapid exocytosis. Docking was originally proposed to require the soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins; however, perturbation studies suggested that docking was independent of the SNARE proteins. We now find that the SNARE protein syntaxin is required for docking of all vesicles at synapses in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The active zone protein UNC-13, which interacts with syntaxin, is also required for docking in the active zone. The docking defects in unc-13 mutants can be fully rescued by overexpressing a constitutively open form of syntaxin, but not by wild-type syntaxin. These experiments support a model for docking in which UNC-13 converts syntaxin from the closed to the open state, and open syntaxin acts directly in docking vesicles to the plasma membrane. These data provide a molecular basis for synaptic vesicle docking.

MeSH Terms
Animals Caenorhabditis elegans/cytology,metabolism Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins/genetics,metabolism Carrier Proteins Cell Membrane/metabolism,ultrastructure Cell Shape Exocytosis/physiology Membrane Fusion/physiology Mosaicism Neuromuscular Junction/physiology,ultrastructure Neuromuscular Nondepolarizing Agents/pharmacology Neurons/cytology,physiology Patch-Clamp Techniques Qa-SNARE Proteins/genetics,metabolism,ultrastructure Recombinant Fusion Proteins/genetics,metabolism Synapses/drug effects,metabolism,ultrastructure Synaptic Vesicles/metabolism,ultrastructure Tubocurarine/pharmacology gamma-Aminobutyric Acid/metabolism
Chemicals
Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins Carrier Proteins Neuromuscular Nondepolarizing Agents Qa-SNARE Proteins Recombinant Fusion Proteins phorbol ester binding protein gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Tubocurarine
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Hammarlund Marc
Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America.
Palfreyman Mark T
Watanabe Shigeki
Olsen Shawn
Jorgensen Erik M
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Article Info
Journal
PLoS biology
Abbr.
PLoS Biol
ISSN
1545-7885
DOI
10.1371/journal.pbio.0050198
Published
2007-08-00
Pages
e198
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
101183755
PMCID
PMC1914072
Subset
IM
Grants
NINDS NIH HHS · R01 NS034307 · United States
NINDS NIH HHS · R37 NS034307 · United States
NINDS NIH HHS · NS034307 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0050198 PMC Full Text View journal details
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