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Full-Text Articles in Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
A Novel Switch-Like Function Of Delta-Catenin In Dendrite Development, Ryan Baumert
A Novel Switch-Like Function Of Delta-Catenin In Dendrite Development, Ryan Baumert
Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)
The formation of neuronal networks in the brain is tightly regulated, and dependent on the morphology of dendrites, the branch-like signal-receiving structures extending from neurons. Disruptions in dendrite development, or dendritogenesis, can lead to the atypical neuronal connectivity associated with multiple neurodevelopmental diseases. My research addresses molecular processes that underlie dendritogenesis via analysis of a pair of novel interactions involving the protein delta-catenin.
In neurons, delta-catenin localizes to dendrites and synapses, where it functions in their development and maintenance. Structurally, delta-catenin possesses a central Armadillo domain and a C-terminal PDZ-binding motif. This motif associates with PDZ domain-containing proteins, and is …
Conformational Changes In The Extracellular Domain Of Glutamate Receptors, Anu Rambhadran
Conformational Changes In The Extracellular Domain Of Glutamate Receptors, Anu Rambhadran
Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)
The family of membrane protein called glutamate receptors play an important role in the central nervous system in mediating signaling between neurons. Glutamate receptors are involved in the elaborate game that nerve cells play with each other in order to control movement, memory, and learning.
Neurons achieve this communication by rapidly converting electrical signals into chemical signals and then converting them back into electrical signals. To propagate an electrical impulse, neurons in the brain launch bursts of neurotransmitter molecules like glutamate at the junction between neurons, called the synapse. Glutamate receptors are found lodged in the membranes of the post-synaptic …