JCB logo
BD Biosciences
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
Published 12 September 2005. doi:10.1083/jcb.200506042
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $8.00
JCB, Volume 170, Number 6, 959-969
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow PDF (Full Text)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Supplemental Material Index
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JCB
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cai, Q.
Right arrow Articles by Sheng, Z.-H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Cai, Q.
Right arrow Articles by Sheng, Z.-H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Article

 Syntabulin-mediated anterograde transport of mitochondria along neuronal processes

Qian Cai, Claudia Gerwin, and Zu-Hang Sheng

Synaptic Function Unit, The Porter Neuroscience Research Center, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892

Correspondence to Zu-Hang Sheng: shengz{at}ninds.nih.gov

In neurons, proper distribution of mitochondria in axons and at synapses is critical for neurotransmission, synaptic plasticity, and axonal outgrowth. However, mechanisms underlying mitochondrial trafficking throughout the long neuronal processes have remained elusive. Here, we report that syntabulin plays a critical role in mitochondrial trafficking in neurons. Syntabulin is a peripheral membrane-associated protein that targets to mitochondria through its carboxyl-terminal tail. Using real-time imaging in living cultured neurons, we demonstrate that a significant fraction of syntabulin colocalizes and co-migrates with mitochondria along neuronal processes. Knockdown of syntabulin expression with targeted small interfering RNA or interference with the syntabulin–kinesin-1 heavy chain interaction reduces mitochondrial density within axonal processes by impairing anterograde movement of mitochondria. These findings collectively suggest that syntabulin acts as a linker molecule that is capable of attaching mitochondrial organelles to the microtubule-based motor kinesin-1, and in turn, contributes to anterograde trafficking of mitochondria to neuronal processes.

Abbreviations used in this paper: CBD, cargo-binding domain; DIV, day in vitro; IB, isolation buffer; KBD, kinesin-binding domain; KHC, kinesin-1 heavy chain or KIF5; MT, microtubule; stb-siRNA, syntabulin-targeted small interfering RNA.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:



  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents