Synaptic Proteins at the Synaptic Junction

The postsynaptic density (PSD) is a submembranous structure at the postsynaptic membrane mainly at the excitatory synapses. The neurotransmitter receptors are assembled and fixed at the PSD, and several molecules implicated in the synaptic plasticity are also enriched. PSD-95/synapse-associated protein (SAP) 90 is involved in the molecular organization of these components of the PSD and essential for learning and memory. The common feature of these postsynaptic proteins is that they have PSD-95/Dlg/ZO-1 (PDZ) modular domains for protein-protein interaction. PDZ domains of these proteins directly recognize the C termini of their target proteins and are believed to play a central role in targeting and clustering of receptors to proper synaptic membranes

Contributor: Kosi Gramatikoff, PhD

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