Drosophila VAP-33A directs bouton formation at neuromuscular junctions in a dosage-dependent manner

Giuseppa Pennetta, Peter Robin Hiesinger, Ruth Fabian-Fine, Ian A. Meinertzhagen, Hugo J. Bellen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

170 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aplysia VAP-33 (VAMP-associated protein) has been previously proposed to be involved in the control of neurotransmitter release. Here, we show that a Drosophila homolog of VAP-33, DVAP-33A, is localized to neuromuscular junctions. Loss of DVAP-33A causes a severe decrease in the number of boutons and a corresponding increase in bouton size. Conversely, presynaptic overexpression of DVAP-33A induces an increase in the number of boutons and a decrease in their size. Gain-of-function experiments show that the presynaptic dose of DVAP-33A tightly modulates the number of synaptic boutons. Our data also indicate that the presynaptic microtubule architecture is severely compromised in DVAP-33A mutants. We propose that a DVAP-33A-mediated interaction between microtubules and presynaptic membrane plays a pivotal role during bouton budding.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)291-306
Number of pages16
JournalNeuron
Volume35
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 18 2002

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience

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