New insights into the structure and function of the AMPA receptor N-terminal domain
Date
Tuesday, April 11, 2017 16:00 - 17:00
Speaker
Ingo Greger (University of Cambridge)
Location
Seminar Room, Lab Building East
Series
Seminar/Talk
Tags
Life Sciences Seminar
Host
Ryuichi Shigemoto
Contact
AMPA-type glutamate receptors are the main mediators of synaptic transmission and plasticity. Recruitment of these glutamate-gated channels to synapses is a central mechanism to increase synaptic strength, which underlies learning. Recent progress in structural biology has led to an understanding of AMPA receptor architecture. Combined with coarse-grained simulations these insights have revealed the substantial flexibility of the AMPA receptor complex. In this talk I will highlight some of these advances and will discuss how dynamic rearrangements likely shapes receptor operation at synapses. A particular focus will be the large AMPA receptor N-terminal domain.