Every human thought, memory, and movement depends on the rapid-fire chatter between nerve cells at junctions called synapses—yet scientists still don’t have a complete list of the proteins that build and operate these microscopic machines in the human brain. This project aims to fill that gap. While animal studies have revealed much about how synapses work, the human synapse proteome—the full set of proteins that make up these structures—remains largely unknown. The researchers will identify the proteins that form “multiprotein complexes” at synapses, the molecular machines that detect electrical activity and control learning and memory. Many of these same proteins are defective in brain diseases and are targets for existing drugs and drugs of abuse. If successful, this fundamental science will provide a freely available molecular parts list for the human synapse. That resource could accelerate discovery of new drug targets for psychiatric and neurological disorders, and help explain why certain medications or recreational drugs affect human cognition differently than they do in animal models. The team will also build a public educational website to explain the work and its implications.
View original technical description
Nerve cells are connected through their branches (axons and dendrites) by specialised structures known as synapses. Each nerve cell has hundreds to thousands of synapses that connect the neurons in the brain into networks of immense complexity. The synapse is considered to be the fundamental functional unit of the nervous system and performs the role of transmitting the electrical information or activity in one nerve cell to the next, typically by releasing neurotransmitters across the synaptic cleft. Neurotransmitters and their receptors are defective in many brain diseases and are also the target of the majority of drugs used to treat brain diseases. Moreover, these synaptic neurotransmitters are affected by drugs of abuse. Understanding the human synapse is clearly important for human disease. Despite the central importance of synapses, surprisingly little is known about human synapses. The main objective of this project is to identify the proteins that comprise human synapses and study their differences in parts of the brain and between species. We will focus on key sets of proteins at synapses that bind together and form ?multiprotein complexes?. These are molecular machines that detect patterns of electrical activity in the synapse and control learning and memory and many other behaviours. The proteins that comprise these machines are involved in many human brain diseases and are of great potential as therapeutic targets for future medicines. The information from this research will be disseminated freely and be important for driving future research programs. The explanation of the experiments and their implications will also be made available to the public through an educational website (http://www.g2conline.org/).
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know