Why there are multiple synaptic adhesion molecules in single synapse? - Nanodomain hypothesis

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14330
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Neurophysiology / General neuroscience
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: Hayashi Yasunori 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, チームリーダー (90466037)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: シナプス / 細胞接着因子 / 超高解像度顕微鏡

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Multiple synaptic adhesion factors have been identified so far but why they coexist in one type of synapse is not clear. We hypothesized that each of them forms different nano-domain. In order to test this, we carried out super-resolution imaging of immunostaining signal of neuroligin and EphB. We could observe distribution of a postsynaptic protein Homer, as expected from its postsynaptic function. On the other hand, for neuroligin and EphB, the signal was too weak to convincingly conclude anything. Both are membrane protein and we speculated that low copy number of proteins. Therefore, we are currently generating epitope-tagged constructs.

Free Research Field

神経科学