Synaptic transmission articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Drosophila R8 photoreceptor separates signals for image perception and circadian photoentrainment by co-releasing histamine and acetylcholine, and this segregation is further established in the postsynaptic circuitry in the medulla.

    • Na Xiao
    • , Shuang Xu
    •  & Dong-Gen Luo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experiments in mice provide insight into the dynamic relationship between dopamine and acetylcholine in the ventrolateral striatum and how this signalling circuit affects decision-making and behaviour.

    • Lynne Chantranupong
    • , Celia C. Beron
    •  & Bernardo L. Sabatini

  • Article |

    Synaptotagmin-3 is identified as the presynaptic high-affinity calcium sensor to rapidly replenish synaptic vesicles to maintain steady synaptic transmission.

    • Dennis J. Weingarten
    • , Amita Shrestha
    •  & Skyler L. Jackman

  • Article |

    Experiments measuring light-evoked responses in postmortem mouse and human retinas are used to quantify decay of photoreceptors following death and optimise conditions for reviving trans-synaptic transmission.

    • Fatima Abbas
    • , Silke Becker
    •  & Frans Vinberg

  • Article |

    The authors report the structures of glutamate-gated kainate receptors in complex with NETO2 in both the resting and the desensitized states and reveal how kainate receptors in the brain are regulated by NETO2.

    • Lingli He
    • , Jiahui Sun
    •  & Yan Zhao

  • Article |

    Electrophysiology combined with correlated light and electron microscopy confirms the long-standing assumption that the size of a synapse is proportional to its strength, and reveals that neocortical synapses may have greater computational capacity than thought.

    • Simone Holler
    • , German Köstinger
    •  & Ken J. Stratford

  • Letter |

     In the midbrain defensive circuit, the decision to escape is computed by an unreliable synaptic connection that thresholds threat information integrated in the medial superior colliculus, and controls activation of dorsal periaqueductal grey neurons.

    • Dominic A. Evans
    • , A. Vanessa Stempel
    •  & Tiago Branco

  • Letter |

    Experimental evidence that global Kctd13 reduction leads to increased RhoA levels that reduce synaptic transmission, implicating RhoA as a potential therapeutic target for neuropsychiatric disorders associated with copy-number variants that include KCTD13.

    • Christine Ochoa Escamilla
    • , Irina Filonova
    •  & Craig M. Powell

  • Brief Communications Arising |

    • Panos Zanos
    • , Ruin Moaddel
    •  & Todd D. Gould

  • Article |

    Increasing expression of the autism-associated gene Ube3a, either alone or in combination with seizures, not only impairs sociability in mice but also reduces expression of the synaptic organizer Cbln1 in the ventral tegmental area, thus weakening glutamatergic transmission.

    • Vaishnav Krishnan
    • , David C. Stoppel
    •  & Matthew P. Anderson

  • Letter |

    Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are ligand-gated ion channels that mediate fast chemical neurotransmission; here, the first X-ray crystal structure of a nicotinic receptor is reported, revealing how nicotine stabilizes the receptor in a non-conducting, desensitized conformation.

    • Claudio L. Morales-Perez
    • , Colleen M. Noviello
    •  & Ryan E. Hibbs

  • Letter |

    Synaptic vesicle fusion, as evoked by action potentials, is confined to presynaptic protein nanoclusters, which are closely aligned with concentrated postsynaptic receptors and their scaffolding proteins—an organization termed a ‘nanocolumn’.

    • Ai-Hui Tang
    • , Haiwen Chen
    •  & Thomas A. Blanpied

  • Letter |

    WebMotor neurons in zebrafish are shown to be more than simply output neurons, since they are able to influence, through gap junctions, the strength of the input they receive from V2a interneurons and, thereby, the frequency and duration of locomotor activity.

    • Jianren Song
    • , Konstantinos Ampatzis
    •  & Abdeljabbar El Manira

  • Letter |

    Synaptotagmin 7 is shown to be essential for synaptic facilitation at a variety of central synapses, and the results pave the way for future functional studies of short-term synaptic plasticity, a fundamental form of neuronal computation.

    • Skyler L. Jackman
    • , Josef Turecek
    •  & Wade G. Regehr

  • Article |

    Ultrastructural analysis of synaptic vesicle recycling reveals that clathrin is not required for the initial rapid step of vesicle recycling by ultrafast endocytosis at the plasma membrane and instead clathrin acts later at an endosome to regenerate synaptic vesicles; however, when ultrafast endocytosis does not occur (for example, in experiments at room temperature rather than physiological temperature), clathrin-mediated endocytosis does happen at the plasma membrane.

    • Shigeki Watanabe
    • , Thorsten Trimbuch
    •  & Erik M. Jorgensen

  • Outlook |

    Not enough doctors and patients opt for surgery to treat epilepsy, despite clinical evidence of the benefits, says Samuel Wiebe.

    • Samuel Wiebe

  • Outlook |

    Epilepsy arises from natural mechanisms in the brain that go awry. Researchers are trying to unravel its complexities.

    • Michael Eisenstein

  • Article |

    Sustained neurotransmission requires recycling of synaptic vesicles, but the proposed mechanisms have been controversial; here a ‘flash-and-freeze’ method for electron microscopy reveals a new ultrafast form of endocytosis that is actin- and dynamin-dependent and occurs within 100 milliseconds of stimulation.

    • Shigeki Watanabe
    • , Benjamin R. Rost
    •  & Erik M. Jorgensen

  • Letter |

    When an odour activates a fly′s antennae asymmetrically, more neurotransmitter is released from olfactory receptor neuron axon branches ipsilateral to the antenna than from contralateral branches. This causes ipsilateral central olfactory neurons to begin spiking earlier and at a higher rate than contralateral neurons, thereby enabling a walking fly to turn towards the odour.

    • Quentin Gaudry
    • , Elizabeth J. Hong
    •  & Rachel I. Wilson

  • Article |

    The minimal possible requirement for AMPA receptor trafficking during long-term potentiation is explored, revealing that no region of the receptor subunit is necessary, in contrast with previous work; the only requirement for LTP seems to be a large reserve of glutamate receptors.

    • Adam J. Granger
    • , Yun Shi
    •  & Roger A. Nicoll

  • News & Views |

    It's a touching story of cohabitation and meaningful communication. Two neighbouring fruitfly neurons talk to each other not by means of synaptic junctions but by interactions through the surrounding electrical field. See Article p.66

    • Kazumichi Shimizu
    •  & Mark Stopfer

  • Letter |

    Visual responses during wakefulness are dominated by inhibition, and this inhibition shapes visual selectivity by restricting the temporal and spatial extent of neural activity.

    • Bilal Haider
    • , Michael Häusser
    •  & Matteo Carandini

  • Article |

    Mice lacking 4E-BP2, an eIF4E repressor, display increased translation of neuroligins; the mice also show autism-related behaviours and alterations in hippocampal synaptic activity, and these are reversed by normalization of eIF4E activity or neuroligin 1 levels.

    • Christos G. Gkogkas
    • , Arkady Khoutorsky
    •  & Nahum Sonenberg

  • Letter |

    Dopamine is synonymous with reward in mammals but associated with aversive reinforcement in insects, where reward seems to be signalled by octopamine; here it is shown that flies have discrete populations of dopamine neurons representing positive or negative values that are coordinately regulated by octopamine.

    • Christopher J. Burke
    • , Wolf Huetteroth
    •  & Scott Waddell

  • Article |

    Through the use of a combination of state-of-the-art techniques, different populations of ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons in the mouse are shown to form separate circuits with distinct connectivity: neurons receiving input from the laterodorsal tegmentum and lateral habenula are found to mediate reward and aversion, respectively.

    • Stephan Lammel
    • , Byung Kook Lim
    •  & Robert C. Malenka

  • News & Views |

    The unexpected finding that neurons can co-release two neurotransmitter molecules, dopamine and GABA, through a common mechanism provides a further advance in our understanding of the nervous system. See Letter p.262

    • John T. Williams

  • Article |

    In live neonatal mice, waves of spontaneous retinal activity are present and can propagate patterned information capable of guiding activity-dependent development of complex intra- and inter-hemispheric circuits throughout the visual system before the onset of vision (before eye opening).

    • James B. Ackman
    • , Timothy J. Burbridge
    •  & Michael C. Crair

  • Article |

    Stress-induced behavioural measures of anhedonia in adult mice, but not measures of behavioural despair, required a decrease in the strength of excitatory synapses on D1 dopamine receptor-expressing nucleus accumbens medium spiny neurons owing to activation of melanocortin 4 receptors.

    • Byung Kook Lim
    • , Kee Wui Huang
    •  & Robert C. Malenka

  • Letter |

    A new double-infection technique with viral vectors is used to interrupt transmission through the propriospinal neurons (PNs) in macaque monkeys, and this is found to impair reach and grasp movements, revealing a critical role for the PN-mediated pathway in the control of hand dexterity.

    • Masaharu Kinoshita
    • , Ryosuke Matsui
    •  & Tadashi Isa

  • Letter |

    The voltage-gated calcium channel protein subunit α2δ is shown to control both the abundance of voltage-gated calcium channels and their coupling to the vesicular release of neurotransmitters into the synapse; because the α2δ family is a known target of potent analgesics, this study offers a new link between basic synaptic physiology and pain research in the clinic.

    • Michael B. Hoppa
    • , Beatrice Lana
    •  & Timothy A. Ryan

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