Ceramidase regulates synaptic vesicle exocytosis and trafficking.

ABSTRACT: A screen for Drosophila synaptic dysfunction mutants identified slug-a-bed (slab). The slab gene encodes ceramidase, a central enzyme in sphingolipid metabolism and regulation. Sphingolipids are major constituents of lipid rafts, membrane domains with roles in vesicle trafficking, and signaling pathways. Null slab mutants arrest as fully developed embryos with severely reduced movement. The SLAB protein is widely expressed in different tissues but enriched in neurons at all stages of development. Targeted neuronal expression of slab rescues mutant lethality, demonstrating the essential neuronal function of the protein. C(5)-ceramide applied to living preparations is rapidly accumulated at neuromuscular junction (NMJ) synapses dependent on the SLAB expression level, indicating that synaptic

SUBMITTER: Rohrbough J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2675194 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature