Synaptic transmission requires that vesicles filled with neurotransmitter molecules be docked to the plasma membrane by the SNARE protein complex. The SNARE complex applies attractive forces to overcome the long-range repulsion between the vesicle and membrane. To understand how the balance between the attractive and repulsive forces defines the equilibrium docked state we have developed a mode...

Tight junctions create a regulated intercellular seal between epithelial and endothelial cells and also establish polarity between plasma membrane domains within the cell. Tight junctions have also been implicated in many other cellular functions, including cell signaling and growth regulation, but they have yet to be directly implicated in vesicle movement. Occludin is a transmembrane protein ...

The Ca(2+)-dependent exocytosis of dense-core vesicles in neuroendocrine cells requires a priming step during which SNARE protein complexes assemble. CAPS (aka CADPS) is one of several factors required for vesicle priming; however, the localization and dynamics of CAPS at sites of exocytosis in live neuroendocrine cells has not been determined. We imaged CAPS before, during, and after single-ve...

Evanescent wave excitation was used to visualize individual, FM4-64-labeled secretory vesicles in an optical slice proximal to the plasma membrane of Picea meyeri pollen tubes. A standard upright microscope was modified to accommodate the optics used to direct a laser beam at a variable angle. Under evanescent wave microscopy or total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy, fluorophores lo...

The RAB5 GTPase ARA6 of Arabidopsis thaliana is known to be involved in endosomal trafficking by targeting vesicles to the plasma membrane. During this process AtARA6 is working in close relationship with the SNARE protein VAMP727 (vesicle associated membrane protein 727). Recently, ARA6 of the characean green algae Chara australis (CaARA6) was shown to have properties similar to AtARA6, pointi...

Neurotransmitter release from neuronal terminals is governed by synaptic vesicle fusion. Vesicles filled with transmitters are docked at the neuronal membrane by means of the SNARE machinery. After a series of events leading up to the fusion pore formation, neurotransmitters are released into the synaptic cleft. In this paper, we study the mechanics of the docking process. A continuum model is ...

Four evolutionarily conserved proteins are required for mammalian regulated exocytosis: three SNARE proteins, syntaxin, SNAP-25, and synaptobrevin, and the SM protein, Munc18-1. Here, using single-molecule imaging, we measured the spatial distribution of large cohorts of single Munc18-1 molecules correlated with the positions of single secretory vesicles in a functionally rescued Munc18-1-null ...

Plasma membrane disruptions are resealed by an active molecular mechanism thought to be composed, in part, of kinesin, CaM kinase, snap-25, and synaptobrevin. We have used HRP to mark the cytoplasmic site of a mechanically induced plasma membrane disruption. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that vesicles of a variety of sizes rapidly (s) accumulate in large numbers within the cytoplasm...

Exocytotic release of glutamate from preformed synaptic vesicles confers great speed on synaptic signaling, but also requires mechanisms to maintain the pool of available synaptic vesicles and remove glutamate from the extracellular space. Since the axon terminal is in general located at a great distance from the cell body, synapses rely on the local recycling of both synaptic vesicle membrane ...