Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
14
pubmed:dateCreated
2002-7-17
pubmed:abstractText
Voltage-gated calcium channels play a key role in chemical synaptic transmission by providing the calcium trigger for regulated neurotransmitter release. Genes encoding the primary structural subunit, alpha1, as well as accessory subunits of presynaptic calcium channels have now been identified in a variety of organisms. The cacophony (cac) gene in Drosophila, also known as nightblind A, encodes a voltage-gated calcium-channel alpha1 subunit homologous to vertebrate alpha1 subunits implicated in neurotransmitter release. A recent genetic screen in our laboratory isolated cac(TS2), a conditional cac mutant exhibiting rapid paralysis at elevated temperatures. This mutant has allowed synaptic electrophysiology after acute perturbation of a specific calcium-channel gene product, demonstrating that cac encodes a primary calcium channel functioning in neurotransmitter release. Here we report the molecular lesion in cac(TS2), a missense mutation within a calcium-dependent regulatory domain of the alpha1 subunit, as well as phenotypic rescue of temperature-sensitive and lethal cac mutations by transgenic expression of a wild-type cac cDNA. Notably, rescue of rapid, calcium-triggered neurotransmitter release was achieved by neural expression of a single cDNA containing a subset of alternative exons and lacking any conserved synaptic-protein interaction sequence. Possible implications of these findings are discussed in the context of structure-function studies of synaptic calcium channels, as well as alternative splicing and mRNA editing of the cac transcript.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jul
pubmed:issn
1529-2401
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:day
15
pubmed:volume
22
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
5856-64
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Alternative Splicing, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Animals, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Calcium Channels, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-DNA Mutational Analysis, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Drosophila, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Exons, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Female, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Genes, Lethal, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Male, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Molecular Sequence Data, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Mutation, Missense, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Neurotransmitter Agents, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Paralysis, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Phenotype, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Protein Subunits, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-RNA, Messenger, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-RNA Editing, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Sequence Homology, Amino Acid, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Structure-Activity Relationship, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Synapses, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Temperature, pubmed-meshheading:12122048-Transformation, Genetic
pubmed:year
2002
pubmed:articleTitle
Synaptic calcium-channel function in Drosophila: analysis and transformation rescue of temperature-sensitive paralytic and lethal mutations of cacophony.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't