title: CAPS in search of a lost function.
abstract: Ca2+-dependent activator protein for secretion (CAPS) is an evolutionarily conserved secretory protein that was previously thought to mediate Ca2+-triggered fusion of dense-core vesicles. In an elegant study of CAPS1-deficient mice, Speidel et al. (this issue of Neuron) now show that CAPS function may have been misunderstood. CAPS appears to act upstream of fusion in the biogenesis or maintenance of mature secretory vesicles, raising the possibility of a completely new type of function for an essential component of the secretory machinery.
authors.affiliation: Center for Basic Neuroscience, Department of Molecular Genetics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, UT Southwestern Medical Center, 6000 Harry Hines Boulevard, NA4.118, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Südhof
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005089:Exocytosis / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins