PBIO SEMINAR SERIES

Endocytic mechanisms at the neuronal synapse

Wednesday - May 17, 2006
Crill Lecture
2:00 pm
T-625 HSB

Pietro De Camilli
Eugene Higgins Professor of Cell Biology Yale University
Speaker's website

Host: Stan Froehner

Our laboratory is interested in the mechanisms underlying membrane traffic at neuronal synapses, with emphasis on the traffic of synaptic vesicles, the organelles responsible for the storage and secretion of fast-acting neurotransmitters. Synaptic vesicles are clustered at the presynaptic plasma membrane, where they undergo regulated exocytosis in response to synaptic stimulation, and are rapidly reformed via the endocytosis and recycling of their membranes. My talk will focus on recent progress from our lab concerning the mechanisms underlying the endocytic recycling of synaptic vesicles. I will discuss in particular 1) the role of phosphoinositide metabolism in the regulation of the endocytic machinery and 2) recent findings concerning the mechanism of action of the GTPase dynamin in the separation (fission) of endocytic buds from the plasma membrane. These findings have broad implications in the general fields of signaling and membrane traffic.