Feng Li, PhD

Synaptic vesicle fusion is an ultrafast and highly synchronized process. In the prefusion stage, vesicles are docked and primed at the presynaptic terminal, probably through some tethering factors and the initial association of the v- and t-SNAREs, and form a ready-to-release pool. Upon the entry of calcium, the SNAREs further zipper up to induce bilayer merging, and neurotransmitters are then released from the vesicles to synaptic cleft in sub-millisecond. How this fusion achieves ultrafast kinetics and synchronicity is poorly understood. It likely involves the collaborative efforts of several proteins such as Syntaxin, SNAP25, VAMP2, Synaptotagmin, Complexin, and probably Munc18, alpha-SNAP, NSF, too. To unravel the molecular basis of this process, it requires a thorough understanding of the role of each protein as well as their interplay.