Syntaxin 3 is a member of a large protein family of syntaxin proteins that mediate fusion between vesicles and their target membranes. Mutations in the ubiquitously expressed syntaxin 3A splice form give rise to a serious gastrointestinal disorder in...
Retinal neurons that form ribbon-style synapses operate over a wide dynamic range, continuously relaying visual information to their downstream targets. The remarkable signaling abilities of these neurons are supported by specialized presynaptic mach...
The Genome Aggregation Database presently contains >120,000 human genomes. We searched in this database for the presence of mutations at the sites of tetanus (TeNT) and botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) cleavages of the three SNARE proteins: VAMP, SNA...
Parallel zippering of the SNARE domains of syntaxin 1A/B, SNAP-25, and VAMP/synaptobrevin 2 is widely regarded as supplying the driving force for exocytotic events at nerve terminals and elsewhere. However, in spite of intensive research, no consensu...
Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a monoamine that plays a critical role in insulin secretion, energy metabolism, and mitochondrial biogenesis. However, the action of serotonin in insulin production and secretion by pancreatic β cells h...
Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are highly potent poisons produced by seven serotypes of Clostridium botulinum. The mechanism of neurotoxin action is a multistep process which leads to the cleavage of one of three different SNARE proteins essential for...
Viruses have evolved unique strategies to evade or subvert autophagy machinery. Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) induces autophagy during infection in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we report that EV-A71 triggers autolysosome formation during infection in...
Syntaxin-1 (Stx1), a core neuronal SNARE protein, regulates membrane docking and fusion during neurotransmitter release. Although Stx1 clustering is widely observed at presynaptic active zones and in neuroendocrine cells, how Stx1 isoforms and lipid...
Malaria, caused by Plasmodium parasites, remains a global health crisis, necessitating novel therapeutic strategies targeting host–parasite interactions. During liver-stage infection, parasites exploit host vesicular trafficking machinery, part...
Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress are key drivers of various ocular diseases. Experimental hypoxia, modeled using cobalt chloride (CoCl2), induces hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) stabilization, mitochondrial dysfunction, and exce...
Glial activation and neuroinflammation play significant roles in apoptosis as well as in the development of cognitive and memory deficits. Neuroinflammation is also a critical feature in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheim...
Endocytosis and autophagy are evolutionarily conserved degradative processes in all eukaryotes. Both pathways converge to the lysosome where cargo is degraded. Improper lysosomal degradation is observed in many human pathologies, so its regulatory me...
Quantitative surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was utilized to determine binding strength and calcium dependence of direct interactions between dysferlin and proteins likely to mediate skeletal muscle repair, interrupted in limb girdle muscular dystrop...
In situ hybridization (ISH) at the electron microscopic (EM) level is essential for elucidating the intracellular distribution and role of mRNA in protein synthesis. EM-ISH is considered to be an important tool for clarifying the intracellular locali...
An increasing number of stroke survivors are burdened by persistent disabilities, requiring long-term rehabilitation. However, the extent of functional gain is highly variable, severely impairing patients’ quality of life. This variability high...
A set of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) amplicon vectors expressing the light chains (LC) of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) A, B, C, D, E and F was constructed. Their properties have been assessed in primary cultures of rat embryonic dorsal root g...
Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), produced by Clostridium botulinum, cleaves proteins involved in neurotransmitter release, thereby triggering flaccid paralyses, which are responsible for botulism. BoNT is classified into seven serotypes (BoNT/A-G); BoNT/...
Ulcers due to infections with Mycobacterium ulcerans are characterized by complete lack of wound healing processes, painless, an underlying bed of host dead cells and undermined edges due to necrosis. Mycolactone, a macrolide produced by the mycobact...
Pancreatic beta cell function is an important component of glucose homeostasis. Here, we investigated the function of PIMT (PRIP-interacting protein with methyl transferase domain), a transcriptional co-activator binding protein, in the pancreatic be...