You are studying a Drosophila protein called FROZN that you think is a vesicle snare that plays a role in exocytosis of synaptic vesicles containing acetylcholine at the neuro-muscular junction. Because this protein has been isolated from neuromuscular junctions, you hypothesize that this snare is a Ca+2 sensor that mediates the final merging of vesicles with the membrane. To test this hypothesis you perform 2 experiments: 1. You make a mutant Drosophila that lacks FROZN and find that synaptic vesicle release at the neuromuscular junction is blocked. 2. You block Ca+2 entry into the presynaptic neuron terminal in a normal (wild type) fly and find that synaptic vesicle release is blocked. Do these experiments support your hypothesis that FROZN is a vesicle snare and is the Ca+2 sensor? Is there another possible explanation for the function of FROZN? Explain your answer.
You are studying a Drosophila protein called FROZN that you think is a vesicle snare that plays a role in exocytosis of synaptic vesicles containing acetylcholine at the neuro-muscular junction. Because this protein has been isolated from neuromuscular junctions, you hypothesize that this snare is a Ca+2 sensor that mediates the final merging of vesicles with the membrane. To test this hypothesis you perform 2 experiments: 1. You make a mutant Drosophila that lacks FROZN and find that synaptic vesicle release at the neuromuscular junction is blocked. 2. You block Ca+2 entry into the presynaptic neuron terminal in a normal (wild type) fly and find that synaptic vesicle release is blocked. Do these experiments support your hypothesis that FROZN is a vesicle snare and is the Ca+2 sensor? Is there another possible explanation for the function of FROZN? Explain your answer.
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