The Kinesin Motor KIF3A Is a Component of the Presynaptic Ribbon in Vertebrate Photoreceptors

This work was supported by a grant to B.J.S. from National Institutes of Health (NS-26846). V.M. was supported by a Neuromuscular Disease Research Fellowship from the Muscular Dystrophy Association during the initial part of this study. We thank Drs. Joseph Besharse, Richard Masland, Elio Raviola, Tom Reese, Nancy Chamberlin, Jim Deshler, Martin Highett, and Zoia Muresan for helpful discussions and comments on this manuscript. We also thank Dr. Connie Cepko for the P0 and P7 retinal samples, Ms. Maria Ericsson for help with the electron microscopy, and Dr. Zoia Muresan for providing chicken retina cryosections. Taxol was a gift from the National Cancer Institute. We are grateful to Drs. George S. Bloom, Robert Burgoyne, Pietro De Camilli, and Vladimir I. Gelfand for their generous gifts of antibodies. We are especially grateful to Dr. Jonathan M. Scholey for the gift of the K2.4 (anti-KIF3A) antibody, which made this study possible.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Bruce J. Schnapp, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, 240 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115.