Brain's Master Switch Is Verified
Yeon-Kyun Shin, professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at ISU, has shown that the protein called synaptotagmin1 (Syt1) is the sole trigger for the release of neurotransmitters in the brain.
Prior to this research, Syt1 was thought to be a part of the protein structure (not the sole protein) that triggered the release of neurotransmitters at 10 parts per million of calcium.
Shin's research is published in the current issue of the journal Science.
"Syt1 was a suspect previously, but people were not able to pinpoint that it's the real one, even though there were lots and lots of different trials," said Shin. "In this case, we are trying to show in the laboratory that it's the real one. So we excluded everything else, and included SNARE proteins -- that's the machinery of the release, and the Syt1 is a calcium-sensing timer."
