IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v389y1997i6653d10.1038_39908.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identification and characterization of the vesicular GABA transporter

Author

Listed:
  • Steven L. McIntire

    (Graduate Programs in Neuroscience, Cell Biology and Biomedical Sciences, UCSF School of Medicine
    UCSF, School of Medicine)

  • Richard J. Reimer

    (Graduate Programs in Neuroscience, Cell Biology and Biomedical Sciences, UCSF School of Medicine)

  • Kim Schuske

    (University of Utah)

  • Robert H. Edwards

    (Graduate Programs in Neuroscience, Cell Biology and Biomedical Sciences, UCSF School of Medicine)

  • Erik M. Jorgensen

    (University of Utah)

Abstract

Synaptic transmission involves the regulated exocytosis of vesicles filled with neurotransmitter. Classical transmitters are synthesized in the cytoplasm, and so must be transported into synaptic vesicles. Although the vesicular transporters for monoamines and acetylcholine have been identified, the proteins responsible for packaging the primary inhibitory and excitatory transmitters, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate remain unknown1,2. Studies in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans have implicated the gene unc-47 in the release of GABA3. Here we show that the sequence of unc-47 predicts a protein with ten transmembrane domains, that the gene is expressed by GABA neurons, and that the protein colocalizes with synaptic vesicles. Further, a rat homologue of unc-47 is expressed by central GABA neurons and confers vesicular GABA transport in transfected cells with kinetics and substrate specificity similar to those previously reported for synaptic vesicles from the brain. Comparison of this vesicular GABA transporter (VGAT) with a vesicular transporter for monoamines shows that there are differences in the bioenergetic dependence of transport, and these presumably account for the differences in structure. Thus VGAT is the first of a new family of neurotransmitter transporters.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven L. McIntire & Richard J. Reimer & Kim Schuske & Robert H. Edwards & Erik M. Jorgensen, 1997. "Identification and characterization of the vesicular GABA transporter," Nature, Nature, vol. 389(6653), pages 870-876, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:389:y:1997:i:6653:d:10.1038_39908
    DOI: 10.1038/39908
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/39908
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/39908?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zihao Wang & Qian Zhang & Yayun Jiang & Jun Zhou & Ye Tian, 2024. "ASI-RIM neuronal axis regulates systemic mitochondrial stress response via TGF-β signaling cascade," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Jung-Hwan Choi & Lauren Bayer Horowitz & Niels Ringstad, 2021. "Opponent vesicular transporters regulate the strength of glutamatergic neurotransmission in a C. elegans sensory circuit," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:389:y:1997:i:6653:d:10.1038_39908. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.