Grant Proposal “Topics”

Molecular basis of synaptic vesicle docking (Phyllis Hanson)

Murthy VN, Stevens CF. Reversal of synaptic vesicle docking at central synapses. Nat Neurosci 1999 Jun;2(6):503-7
Christoforidis S, McBride HM, Burgoyne RD, Zerial M. The Rab5 effector EEA1 is a core component of endosome docking. Nature 1999 Feb 18;397(6720):621-5
Geppert M, Goda Y, Stevens CF, Sudhof TC. The small GTP-binding protein Rab3A regulates a late step in synaptic vesicle fusion. Nature 1997 Jun 19;387(6635):810-4
Reist NE, Buchanan J, Li J, DiAntonio A, Buxton EM, Schwarz TL. Morphologically docked synaptic vesicles are reduced in synaptotagmin mutants of Drosophila. J Neurosci 1998 Oct 1;18(19):7662-73

Mobilization of postsynaptic receptors. (Jim Huettner)

Pre- and postsynaptic factors that shape synaptic signaling. (Peter Lukasiewicz)

MacDermott AB, Role LW, Sieglbaum SA (1999) Presynaptic ionotropic receptors and the control of transmitter release. AnnRevNeurosci 22: 443-485.
Otis TS, Wu YC, Trussell LO (1996) Delayed clearance of transmitter and the role of glutamate transporters at synapses with multiple release sites. J Neurosci 16: 1634-1644.
Trussell LO, Zhang S, Raman IM (1993) Desensitization of AMPA receptors upon multiquantal release. Neuron 10: 1185-1196.
von Gersdorff H, Sakaba T, Berglund K, Tachibana M (1998) Submillisecond kinetics of glutamate release from a sensory synapse. Neuron 21: 1177-1188.

Mechanism of replication of prions. (Mike Nonet)

Prusiner, S. B. (1998). Prions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95, 13363-83. [An abbreviated version of Dr. Prusiner’s Nobel lecture.]
Prusiner, S. B., Scott, M. R., DeArmond, S. J., and Cohen, F. E. (1998). Prion protein biology. Cell 93, 337-48.

Hegde, R. S., Mastrianni, J. A., Scott, M. R., DeFea, K. A., Tremblay, P., Torchia, M., DeArmond, S. J., Prusiner, S. B., and Lingappa, V. R. (1998). A transmembrane form of the prion protein in neurodegenerative disease. Science 279, 827-34.
Safar, J., Wille, H., Itri, V., Groth, D., Serban, H., Torchia, M., Cohen, F. E., and Prusiner, S. B. (1998). Eight prion strains have PrP(Sc) molecules with different conformations. Nat Med 4, 1157-65.
Supattapone, S., Bosque, P., Muramoto, T., Wille, H., Aagaard, C., Peretz, D., Nguyen, H. O., Heinrich, C., Torchia, M., Safar, J., Cohen, F. E., DeArmond, S. J., Prusiner, S. B., and Scott, M. (1999). Prion protein of 106 residues creates an artifical transmission barrier for prion replication in transgenic mice. Cell 96, 869-78.

Molecular control of migration and layer formation in developing cerebral cortex. (Alan Pearlman)

Chae, T., Y. T. Kwon, R. Bronson, P. Dikkes, E. Li, and L. H. Tsai (1997) Mice lacking p35, a neuronal specific activator of cdk5, display cortical lamination defects, seizures, and adult lethality. Neuron 18: 29-42.
Rice, D. S., M. Sheldon, G. Darcangelo, K. Nakajima, D. Goldowitz, and T. Curran (1998) Disabled-1 acts downstream of reelin in a signaling pathway that controls laminar organization in the mammalian brain. Development 125: 3719-3729.
Trommsdorff et al., Reeler/disabled-like disruption of neuronal migration in knockout mice lacking the VLDL receptor and ApoE receptor 2. Cell 97:689-701, 1999
Pearlman, A. L., P. L. Faust, M. E. Hatten, and J. E. Brunstrom (1998) New directions for neuronal migration. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 8: 45-54.

Mechanism of metabotropic action of ionotropic glutamate receptors (Carl Romano)

Wang YZ, Small DL, Stanimirovic DB, et al. AMPA receptor-mediated regulation of a G(i)-protein in cortical neurons. NATURE 389: (6650) 502-504 OCT 2 1997
Rodriguez-Moreno A, Lerma J Kainate receptor modulation of GABA release involves a metabotropic function. NEURON 20: (6) 1211-1218 JUN 1998
Kawai F, Sterling P AMPA receptor activates a G-protein that suppresses a cGMP-gated current. J NEUROSCI 19: (8) 2954-2959 APR 15 1999

Finding intercellular signals that organize formation of neuron-neuron synapses. (Josh Sanes)

O'Brien RJ, Xu D, Petralia RS, Steward O, Huganir RL, Worley P Synaptic clustering of AMPA receptors by the extracellular immediate-early gene product Narp. Neuron 1999 Jun;23(2):309-23
See also the Reviews for Sept 23-24 lectures.

How the cerebral cortex gets subdivided into areas. (Josh Sanes)

Miyashita-Lin EM, Hevner R, Wassarman KM, Martinez S, Rubenstein JL. Early neocortical regionalization in the absence of thalamic innervation. Science 1999; 285:906-9

The neurobiology of olfaction. (Paul Taghert)

Mombaerts P (1999) Molecular biology of odorant receptors in vertebrates. Annu Rev Neurosci 22:487-509

Buonomano, D.V. and Merzenich, M.M. (1998) Cortical plasticity: From synapses to Maps. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 21: 149-186.