Kissing and pinching: synaptotagmin and calcium do more between bilayers

Abstract

Building on recent findings that synaptotagmin (Syt) participates in synaptic vesicle endocytosis, Poskanzer et al., in this issue of Neuron, show distinct mechanisms by which Syt functions in this process. Most significantly, they show (1) that calcium binding to Syt determines the rate but not fidelity of vesicle recycling and (2) that mutations in a different Syt domain affect the shape but not rate of formation of recycled synaptic vesicles.