title: A synaptic vesicle membrane protein is conserved from mammals to Drosophila.
abstract: The structure of synaptobrevin, an intrinsic membrane protein of small synaptic vesicles from mammalian brain, was studied by purification and molecular cloning. Its message in bovine brain encodes a 116 amino acid protein whose sequence reveals it to be the mammalian homolog of Torpedo VAMP-1. Antibody probing demonstrates that the protein is also present in Drosophila, and its Drosophila homolog was cloned. Alignment of the sequences of synaptobrevin/VAMP-1 from the three species shows it to contain four domains, including a highly conserved central region of 63 amino acids that contains 75% invariant residues. The finding that a membrane protein from vertebrate synaptic vesicles is conserved in Drosophila points toward a central role of this protein in neurotransmission and should allow a genetic approach to neurotransmitter release.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas 75235.
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Südhof
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baumert
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Perin
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jahn
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002417:Cattle; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010802:Phylogeny; D050683:R-SNARE Proteins; D051381:Rats; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D013572:Synaptic Vesicles / Q000032:analysis*; D014101:Torpedo / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D050683:R-SNARE Proteins