The secrets of a functional synapse--from a computational and experimental viewpoint.
BACKGROUND
Neuronal communication is tightly regulated in time and in space. The neuronal transmission takes place in the nerve terminal, at a specialized structure called the synapse. Following neuronal activation, an electrical signal triggers neurotransmitter (NT) release at the active zone. The process starts by the signal reaching the synapse followed by a fusion of the synaptic vesicle and diffusion of the released NT in the synaptic cleft; the NT then binds to the appropriate receptor, and as a result, a potential change at the target cell membrane is induced. The entire process lasts for only a fraction of a millisecond. An essential property of the synapse is its capacity to undergo biochemical and morphological changes, a phenomenon that is referred to as synaptic plasticity.


RESULTS
In this survey, we consider the mammalian brain synapse as our model. We take a cell biological and a molecular perspective to present fundamental properties of the synapse:(i) the accurate and efficient delivery of organelles and material to and from the synapse; (ii) the coordination of gene expression that underlies a particular NT phenotype; (iii) the induction of local protein expression in a subset of stimulated synapses. We describe the computational facet and the formulation of the problem for each of these topics.


CONCLUSIONS
Predicting the behavior of a synapse under changing conditions must incorporate genomics and proteomics information with new approaches in computational biology.
Linial
Michal
M
Dept of Biological Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904, Israel. michall@cc.huji.ac.il
D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D003712:Dendrites / Q000378:metabolism; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods; D015398:Signal Transduction; D012984:Software; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission
D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents