The Journal of Neuroscience, September 1, 2002, 22(17):7478-7484
Endophilin Is Critically Required for Synapse Formation and
Function in Drosophila melanogaster
Richa
Rikhy*,
Vimlesh
Kumar*,
Rohit
Mittal, and
K. S.
Krishnan
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400 005 India
Studies in cell-free systems and the lamprey giant synapse have
implicated crucial roles for amphiphysin and endophilin in synaptic
transmission. However, null mutants at the amphiphysin locus of Drosophila are viable and have no demonstrable
synaptic vesicle-recycling defect. This has necessitated a
re-examination of the role of Src homology 3 domain-containing proteins
in synaptic vesicle recycling. In this report, we show that
endophilin-deficient eye clones in Drosophila have an
altered electroretinogram. A characteristic of this defect is its
aggravation during heightened visual stimulation. It is shown that
endophilin is primarily required in the nervous system. Decreased
endophilin activity results in alterations in the neuromuscular
junction structure and physiology. Immunofluorescence studies show
colocalization of endophilin with dynamin consistent with a possible
role in synaptic vesicle recycling.
Key words:
Drosophila melanogaster; endophilin; transposon-induced mutant; hypomorph; electroretinogram; neuromuscular
junction
*
R.R. and V.K. contributed equally to this work.