Structure and function of excitatory synapses

By exploiting gene-targeted mice, we identified actin depolymerizing proteins of the ADF/cofilin family as crucial regulators of synaptic actin dynamics, brain function and behavior (Rust, EMBO J 2010; Görlich, PLoS One 2011; Goodson, PLoS Genetics 2012; Wolf, Cereb Cortex 2015; Zimmermann, Biol Psychiatry 2015; Rust, Cell Mol Life Sci 2015; Sungur, Front Behav Neurosci 2018).

Currently, we search for proteins that control and/or interact with ADF/cofilin in excitatory synapses. We identified cyclase-associated protein 2 (CAP2) - an actin-binding protein that we implicated in myofibril differentiation during skeletal muscle development (Kepser, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2019) – as a regulator of cofilin1 recruitment into postsynaptic dendritic spines (Pelucchi, Bran Commun 2020).