Neurobiology. A stargazer foretells the way to the synapse.
How do AMPA receptors that are made in the cytoplasm of excitatory neurons travel to and become localized in the distant postsynaptic membranes of dendrites? Nakagawa and Sheng, in a Perspective, suggest that the answer may lie in the stargazin protein that has now been found to interact with AMPA receptors, guiding them to the postsynaptic membrane.
Nakagawa
T
T
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Sheng
M
M
D000818:Animals; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D003712:Dendrites / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D008954:Models, Biological; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D021381:Protein Transport; D018091:Receptors, AMPA / Q000378:metabolism*; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism; D013570:Synaptic Membranes / Q000378:metabolism*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission
C113940:Cacng2 protein, mouse; D015220:Calcium Channels; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D018091:Receptors, AMPA; C033652:postsynaptic density proteins