ArticleThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2008
Mutations in a Drosophila alpha2delta voltage-gated calcium channel subunit reveal a crucial synaptic function.
Article in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers.
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58 citing papers in PubMed.
- Deficiency in transmitter release triggers homeostatic transcriptional changes that increase presynaptic excitability.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Building and modifying diverse synaptic properties: Insights from Drosophila.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2025Review
- The Voltage-Gated Calcium Channel α2δ Subunit in Neuropathic Pain.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- CaeLife · 2024Article
- Voltage-gated calcium channels act upstream of adenylyl cyclase Ac78C to promote timely initiation of dendrite regeneration.PLoS genetics · 2024Article
- CabioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The importance of cache domains in αChannels (Austin, Tex.) · 2023Article
- Role of α2δ-3 in regulating calcium channel localization at presynaptic active zones during homeostatic plasticity.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2023Article
- Regulation of presynaptic CaeLife · 2022Article
- Mechanisms controlling the trafficking, localization, and abundance of presynaptic CaFrontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2022Review
- Different functions of two putative Drosophila αScientific reports · 2020Article
- Auxiliary α2δ1 and α2δ3 Subunits of Calcium Channels Drive Excitatory and Inhibitory Neuronal Network Development.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2020Article
- Electrophysiological Profile RemodelingFrontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2020Article
- The calcium channel subunit αNature communications · 2019Article
- Deletion of the CaFrontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2019Article
- Proteolytic maturation of αeLife · 2018Article
- Unraveling Novel Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration Through a Large-Scale Forward Genetic Screen inFrontiers in genetics · 2018Review
- Voltage-gated calcium channel αF1000Research · 2018Review
- Electrophysiological analysis of synaptic transmission in Drosophila.Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Developmental biology · 2017Review
- LRP1 influences trafficking of N-type calcium channels via interaction with the auxiliary αScientific reports · 2017Article
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Abstract
Voltage-dependent calcium channels regulate many aspects of neuronal biology, including synaptic transmission. In addition to their alpha1 subunit, which encodes the essential voltage gate and selective pore, calcium channels also contain auxiliary alpha2delta, beta, and gamma subunits. Despite progress in understanding the biophysical properties of calcium channels, the in vivo functions of these auxiliary subunits remain unclear. We have isolated mutations in the gene encoding an alpha2delta calcium channel subunit (d alpha2delta-3) using a forward genetic screen in Drosophila. Null mutations in this gene are embryonic lethal and can be rescued by expression in the nervous system, demonstrating that the essential function of this subunit is neuronal. The photoreceptor phenotype of d alpha2delta-3 mutants resembles that of the calcium channel alpha1 mutant cacophony (cac), suggesting shared functions. We have examined in detail genotypes that survive to the third-instar stage. Electrophysiological recordings demonstrate that synaptic transmission is severely impaired in these mutants. Thus the alpha2delta calcium channel subunit is critical for calcium-dependent synaptic function. As such, this Drosophila isoform is the likely partner to the presynaptic calcium channel alpha1 subunit encoded by the cac locus. Consistent with this hypothesis, cacGFP fluorescence at the neuromuscular junction is reduced in d alpha2delta-3 mutants. This is the first characterization of an alpha2delta-3 mutant in any organism and indicates a necessary role for alpha2delta-3 in presynaptic vesicle release and calcium channel expression at active zones.
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