Ca²⁺ channel and active zone protein abundance intersects with input-specific synapse organization to shape functional synaptic diversity.

ABSTRACT: Synaptic heterogeneity is a hallmark of nervous systems that enables complex and adaptable communication in neural circuits. To understand circuit function, it is thus critical to determine the factors that contribute to the functional diversity of synapses. We investigated the contributions of voltage-gated calcium channel (VGCC) abundance, spatial organization, and subunit composition to synapse diversity among and between synapses formed by two closely related Drosophila glutamatergic motor neurons with distinct neurotransmitter release probabilities (P_r). Surprisingly, VGCC levels are highly predictive of heterogeneous P_r among individual synapses of either low- or high-P_r inputs, but not between inputs. We find that the same number of VGCCs are

SUBMITTER: Medeiros AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11410372 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature