Vesicle transport through interaction with t-SNAREs 1a (Vti1a)'s roles in neurons

Bor Luen Tang

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04600

Vesicle transport through interaction with t-SNAREs 1a (Vti1a)'s roles in neurons

Heliyon. 2020 Aug 1;6(8):e04600. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04600. eCollection 2020 Aug.

Author

Bor Luen Tang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Health System, Singapore.
² NUS Graduate School of Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore.

Abstract

The Soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) family mediates membrane fusion during membrane trafficking and autophagy in all eukaryotic cells, with a number of SNAREs having cell type-specific functions. The endosome-trans-Golgi network (TGN) localized SNARE, Vesicle transport through interaction with t-SNAREs 1A (Vti1a), is unique among SNAREs in that it has numerous neuron-specific functions. These include neurite outgrowth, nervous system development, spontaneous neurotransmission, synaptic vesicle and dense core vesicle secretion, as well as a process of unconventional surface transport of the Kv4 potassium channel. Furthermore, the human VT11A gene is known to form fusion products with neighboring genes in cancer tissues, and VT11A variants are associated with risk in cancers, including glioma. In this review, I highlight VTI1A's known physio-pathological roles in brain neurons, as well as unanswered questions in these regards.

Keywords: Cellular neuroscience; Gene mutation; Membrane; Molecular neuroscience; Neuron; Neuroscience; Soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE); VAMP4; VAMP7; Vti1a.

Publication types

Review