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Should I stop or should I go? The role of complexin in neurotransmitter release

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 17, pages 118–125 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

When it comes to fusion with the neuronal cell membrane, does a synaptic vesicle have a choice whether to stop or to go? Recent work suggests that complexin, a tiny protein found within the synaptic terminal, contributes to the mechanism through which this choice is made. How complexin plays this consulting part and which synaptic vesicle proteins it interacts with remain open questions. Indeed, studies in mice and flies have led to the proposal of different models of complexin function. We suggest that understanding the modular nature of complexin will help us to unpick its role in synaptic vesicle release.

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Figure 1: Models of complexin function.
Figure 2: Models of the inhibitory activity of the complexin accessory alpha helix.
Figure 3: Different functions for different species?

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank M. Herman, J. Rizo and T. Littleton for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the German Research Council (DFG Collaborative Research Grants SFB665 and SFB958 to T.T. and C.R.), the European Research Foundation (Grant SynVglut to C.R.), and the Excellence Cluster Neurocure Exc257 (to C.R.).

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  1. Neuroscience Research Center, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Chariteplatz 1, Berlin, 10117, Germany

    Thorsten Trimbuch & Christian Rosenmund

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Correspondence to Christian Rosenmund.

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Trimbuch, T., Rosenmund, C. Should I stop or should I go? The role of complexin in neurotransmitter release. Nat Rev Neurosci 17, 118–125 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2015.16

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