Synaptic Cell Adhesion
- 1Department of Anatomy and Molecular Neurobiology, Westfälische Wilhelms-University, 48149 Münster, Germany
- 2Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305
- 3Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
- Correspondence:thomas.biederer{at}yale.edu
Abstract
Chemical synapses are asymmetric intercellular junctions that mediate synaptic transmission. Synaptic junctions are organized bytrans-synaptic cell adhesion molecules bridging the synaptic cleft. Synaptic cell adhesion molecules not only connect pre- and postsynaptic compartments, but also mediatetrans-synaptic recognition and signaling processes that are essential for the establishment, specification, and plasticity of synapses. A growing number of synaptic cell adhesion molecules that include neurexins and neuroligins, Ig-domain proteins such as SynCAMs, receptor phosphotyrosine kinases and phosphatases, and several leucine-rich repeat proteins have been identified. These synaptic cell adhesion molecules use characteristic extracellular domains to perform complementary roles in organizing synaptic junctions that are only now being revealed. The importance of synaptic cell adhesion molecules for brain function is highlighted by recent findings implicating several such molecules, notably neurexins and neuroligins, in schizophrenia and autism.
- Copyright © 2012 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved
