Topic: superresolution microscopy

Secretagogin, a Ca2+-sensor protein, can trigger signal transduction cascades promoting vesicular exocytosis in an activity- and Ca2+-dependent manner. Even though a role for secretagogin in vesicle trafficking was hypothesized, it’s structural motifs that govern any such function remain unknown. In silico search of the secretagogin interactome was used to select consensus protein hits from open-label databases. X-ray crystallography was employed to map the interaction motif. Multiple immunostaining coupled to superresolution microscopy aided the localization of recombinant structural modules

The advent of superresolution microscopy uncovered the presence of the membrane-associated periodic skeleton (MPS), a part of the neuronal cytoskeleton that is organized in a periodic localization pattern. Central to this structure are spectrin tetramers, which localize rings of actin filaments at an average distance of 190 nm. The MPS is particularly pronounced in the axon, where it appears able to recruit ion channels and signaling platforms into similar periodic localization patterns, suggesting the MPS plays a key role in orchestrating neuronal signaling. Despite this, precise quantificati