title: Counting the SNAREs needed for membrane fusion.
abstract: SNARE proteins mediate most membrane fusion reactions in eukaryotic cells, and are thereby vital for many functions, including synaptic transmission, cell growth, and cytokinesis. However, until recently it was still unclear how many of these proteins are required to catalyze membrane fusion in vivo. In a recent Science paper, Mohrmann et al. (2010) elegantly show that in chromaffin cells, three SNARE complexes are required for the synchronous release of granules, whereas only a single SNARE complex is sufficient for overall release.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Geert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van den Bogaart
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jahn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000737:chemistry; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D019439:Chromaffin Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D008561:Membrane Fusion; D051381:Rats; D050600:SNARE Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D050600:SNARE Proteins; D002118:Calcium