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Sticking and Signalling at the Synapse

Two Sides of the Same Coin?

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Abstract

Our brain and nervous system coordinate all activities of our body and its interaction with the environment. Our brain is made up of a large number of cells called neurons that form specialised points of contacts with other neurons. These contacts are called synapses. The development and functioning of these synapses are clearly vital for nervous system function. A set of molecules call Cell AdhesionMolecules (CAMs) have been shown to be required for the development and maintenance of synapses. More recent work with CAMs indicates that these molecules are also required for signalling and hence normal functioning of synapses. Here, I discuss how CAMs function both in normal synapse development and in signalling at the synapse.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, CV Raman Road, Bangalore, 560 012, India

    Kavita Babu

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  1. Kavita Babu
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Correspondence to Kavita Babu.

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Kavita Babu holds a PhD in developmental biology from The National University of Singapore. She has worked on Caenorhabditis elegans at Massachusetts General Hospital for her postdoctoral research. Kavita headed her lab at IISER Mohali for close to eight years before moving to the Centre for Neuroscience, IISc in the middle of 2019. Kavita continues to be fascinated by the mind of the worm and her lab is largely interested in understanding how cell adhesion molecules signal at the synapse.

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Babu, K. Sticking and Signalling at the Synapse. Reson 25, 419–429 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-020-0954-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-020-0954-6

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