Reference Report

Reference
Citation	Littleton, J.T., Stern, M., Schulze, K., Perin, M., Bellen, H.J. (1993). Mutational analysis of Drosophila synaptotagmin demonstrates its essential role in Ca²⁺-activated neurotransmitter release. Cell 74(6): 1125--1134.
FlyBase ID	FBrf0064585
Type of publication	Research paper
Offprint Available	Yes
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PubMed ID	8104705
PubMed Abstract	Synaptotagmin (syt), a synaptic vesicle-specific protein known to bind Ca2+ in the presence of phospholipids, has been proposed to mediate Ca(2+)-dependent neurotransmitter release. We have addressed the role of syt in neurotransmitter release in vivo by generating mutations in synaptotagmin (syt) in the fruitfly and assaying the subsequent effects on neurotransmission. Most embryos that lack syt fail to hatch and exhibit very reduced, uncoordinated muscle contractions. Larvae with partial lack-of-function mutations show almost no evoked excitatory junctional potentials (EJPs) in 0.4 mM Ca2+ and a 15-fold reduction in EJP amplitude in 1.0 mM Ca2+ when compared with heterozygous controls. In contrast, we observe an increase in the frequency of spontaneous miniature EJPs in the mutants. These results provide in vivo evidence that syt plays a key role in Ca2+ activation of neurotransmitter release and indicate the existence of separate pathways for evoked and spontaneous neurotransmitter release.
Biosis	96137257
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Language of publication	English
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Abbreviation	Cell
Title	Cell
Authors
Volume range	1-
Year range	1974-
Page range
Publisher	Cell Press
Place of publication	Cambridge, MA
Language of publication	English
ISBN/ISSN	0092-8674
CODEN	CELLB5
Data from Reference
Aberrations (5)
	Df(2L)C144 Df(2L)DTD2 Df(2L)N19 Df(2L)N6 Tp(2;1)DTD2
Alleles (7)
	syt^66.4 syt^N19 syt^N6 syt^T11 syt^T41 syt^T77 syt^T7
Genes (1)
	syt
Insertions (4)
	P{5'lacW}syt^N19 P{5'lacW}syt^N6 P{lacW}B8-2-30 P{lacW}syt^T77