Squid photoreceptor terminals synthesize calexcitin, a learning related protein

Nerve endings of squid photoreceptor neurons generate large synaptosomes upon homogenization of the optic lobe. Using several independent methods, these presynaptic structures have been shown to synthesize a wealth of soluble, cytoskeletal and nuclear encoded mitochondrial proteins, and to account for essentially all the translation activity of the synaptosomal fraction. We are now presenting evidence that calexcitin, a learning related, Ca(2+)-binding protein of the B photoreceptors of Hermissenda crassicornis (a mollusk), is synthesized and subjected to post-translational modifications in the squid photoreceptor terminals. In view of the essential role of presynaptic protein synthesis in long-term memory formation in Aplysia, our data suggest that a comparable role may be played by calexcitin synthesized in the squid photoreceptor terminals.