Your browser version may not work well with NCBI's Web applications. More information here...
1: Science. 2006 Jan 27;311(5760):531-5.
Related Articles, Links
Click here to read Click here to read
An architectural framework that may lie at the core of the postsynaptic density.

Baron MK, Boeckers TM, Vaida B, Faham S, Gingery M, Sawaya MR, Salyer D, Gundelfinger ED, Bowie JU.

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1570, USA.

The postsynaptic density (PSD) is a complex assembly of proteins associated with the postsynaptic membrane that organizes neurotransmitter receptors, signaling pathways, and regulatory elements within a cytoskeletal matrix. Here we show that the sterile alpha motif domain of rat Shank3/ProSAP2, a master scaffolding protein located deep within the PSD, can form large sheets composed of helical fibers stacked side by side. Zn2+, which is found in high concentrations in the PSD, binds tightly to Shank3 and may regulate assembly. Sheets of the Shank protein could form a platform for the construction of the PSD complex.

Publication Types:
PMID: 16439662 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]