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Showing transmitters the door: synucleins accelerate vesicle release

α-Synuclein is present at high levels in all neurons and their synapses. We now learn that this protein helps dilate the fusion pore, which forms transiently during vesicle exocytosis, promoting release of certain neurotransmitters.

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Figure 1: Synucleins help promote cargo release from exocytotic vesicles by dilating the fusion pore.

Marina Corral Spence/Springer Nature

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Correspondence to Dennis J Selkoe.

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The author is a director of and stockholder in Prothena Biosciences.

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Selkoe, D. Showing transmitters the door: synucleins accelerate vesicle release. Nat Neurosci 20, 629–631 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4551

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