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Membrane fusion

SNAREs line up in new environment

Nature volume 393, pages 14–15 (1998)Cite this article

Many cellular processes — ranging from growth to neuronal communication — rely on fusion of intracellular membranes. This requires a highly conserved set of membrane proteins known as SNAREs. Relatives of these proteins are involved in almost every type of intracellular fusion, and probably form the core of the fusion machinery1,2. But how exactly do SNAREs mediate fusion, and how do the other proteins that are known to interact with them fit into the picture1,2? Functional3,4 and structural5,6 studies, together with a reconstitution of SNAREs into lipid-bilayer vesicles reported by Weber et al.7 in Cell, have begun to shed some light on the inner workings of SNARE proteins and their effects on membranes.

The best-characterized SNAREs are involved in neuronal exocytosis. They include the synaptic-vesicle protein synaptobrevin, and the plasmalemma-associated proteins syntaxin and SNAP (synaptosome-associated protein)-25. Treatment with botulinum and tetanus neurotoxins — which selectively digest these three SNAREs — blocks exocytosis8, providing compelling evidence for their central role in this process. Syntaxin and synaptobrevin are anchored in the lipid bilayer by transmembrane regions found at their carboxy termini, whereas SNAP-25 is anchored by palmitoyl side-chains. The three proteins assemble spontaneously into a ternary complex, which can be disrupted by the ATPase NSF (N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein), together with SNAPs (soluble NSF-attachment proteins). Because SNAPs mediate binding of NSF to this ternary complex, its components are collectively called SNAREs (SNAP receptors)1.

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Figure 1: Emerging model for protein-mediated membrane fusion in neuronal exocytosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysikalische Chemie, Am Fassberg 11, D-37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Reinhard Jahn

  2. Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, 63110, Missouri, USA

    Phyllis I. Hanson

Authors
  1. Reinhard Jahn
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  2. Phyllis I. Hanson
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Jahn, R., Hanson, P. SNAREs line up in new environment. Nature 393, 14–15 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/29871

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