Author
JT Campanelli
Bio: JT Campanelli is an academic researcher from Stanford University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Synaptic vesicle & Peptide sequence. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 1287 citations.
Papers
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TL;DR: An antiserum against purified cholinergic synaptic vesicles from Torpedo and expression screening was used to isolate a cDNA clone encoding synuclein, a 143 amino acid neuron-specific protein that is expressed only in nervous system tissue.
Abstract: We used an antiserum against purified cholinergic synaptic vesicles from Torpedo and expression screening to isolate a cDNA clone encoding synuclein, a 143 amino acid neuron-specific protein. A cDNA clone was also isolated from a rat brain cDNA library that encodes a highly homologous 140 amino acid protein. The amino terminal 100 amino acids of both proteins are comprised of an 11 amino acid repeating unit that contains a conserved core of 6 residues. The synuclein gene is expressed only in nervous system tissue, not in electric organ, muscle, liver, spleen, heart, or kidney. In the electric organ synapse Torpedo synuclein-immunoreactive proteins are found in 3 major molecular-weight classes of 17.5, 18.5, and 20.0 kDa. In the neuronal cell soma the 17.5 kDa species is predominant and immunoreactivity is localized to a portion of the nuclear envelope.
1,442 citations
Cited by
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TL;DR: A mutation was identified in the α-synuclein gene, which codes for a presynaptic protein thought to be involved in neuronal plasticity, in the Italian kindred and in three unrelated families of Greek origin with autosomal dominant inheritance for the PD phenotype.
Abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder with a lifetime incidence of approximately 2 percent. A pattern of familial aggregation has been documented for the disorder, and it was recently reported that a PD susceptibility gene in a large Italian kindred is located on the long arm of human chromosome 4. A mutation was identified in the α-synuclein gene, which codes for a presynaptic protein thought to be involved in neuronal plasticity, in the Italian kindred and in three unrelated families of Greek origin with autosomal dominant inheritance for the PD phenotype. This finding of a specific molecular alteration associated with PD will facilitate the detailed understanding of the pathophysiology of the disorder.
7,387 citations
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TL;DR: PD models based on the manipulation of PD genes should prove valuable in elucidating important aspects of the disease, such as selective vulnerability of substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons to the degenerative process.
4,872 citations
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TL;DR: The hypothesis that alpha-Syn is an essential presynaptic, activity-dependent negative regulator of DA neurotransmission is supported.
1,593 citations
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TL;DR: The selective and specific nitration of alpha-synuclein in these disorders provides evidence to directly link oxidative and nitrative damage to the onset and progression of neurodegenerative synucleinopathies.
Abstract: Aggregated α-synuclein proteins form brain lesions that are hallmarks of neurodegenerative synucleinopathies, and oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of some of these disorders. Using antibodies to specific nitrated tyrosine residues in α-synuclein, we demonstrate extensive and widespread accumulations of nitrated α-synuclein in the signature inclusions of Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, the Lewy body variant of Alzheimer's disease, and multiple system atrophy brains. We also show that nitrated α-synuclein is present in the major filamentous building blocks of these inclusions, as well as in the insoluble fractions of affected brain regions of synucleinopathies. The selective and specific nitration of α-synuclein in these disorders provides evidence to directly link oxidative and nitrative damage to the onset and progression of neurodegenerative synucleinopathies.
1,553 citations
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TL;DR: It is reported that α-synuclein binds to small unilamellarospholipid vesicles containing acidic phospholipids, but not to vesicular charges with a net neutral charge, consistent with a role in vesicle function at the presynaptic terminal.
1,511 citations