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Synaptotagmin-SNARE coupling enlightened

Synaptotagmins and SNAREs are known to couple Ca2+ sensing to membrane fusion during Ca2+-triggered exocytosis, but unraveling the mechanism of this coupling has proven extremely difficult. Two studies in this issue now provide crucial insights into the nature of synaptotagmin-SNARE interactions and reveal unsuspected similarities between synaptotagmins and viral fusion proteins.

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Figure 1: Diagram summarizing the main features of the model of how synaptotagmins and SNAREs cooperate in Ca2+-dependent membrane fusion, as proposed by Vrljic et al.6.

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Correspondence to Josep Rizo.

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Rizo, J. Synaptotagmin-SNARE coupling enlightened. Nat Struct Mol Biol 17, 260–262 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb0310-260

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