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Updated: Jan 14, 2026

Preparation of Synaptic Plasma Membrane and Postsynaptic Density Proteins Using a Discontinuous Sucrose Gradient
Published on: September 3, 2014
The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution
Jeffrey J Colgren1, Pawel Burkhardt2
1Michael Sars Centre, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. jeffrey.colgren@uib.no.
Abstract:
The question of how the first synapses and neurons evolved remains unanswered. Chemical synapses are highly organized functional assemblies, linking two cells between presynaptic and postsynaptic structures. The core set of proteins making these two structures are well conserved in animals, and many of them predate animal evolution. In order to reconstruct the history of how these components came together into a functional unit, it is important to study the conserved and unique functions of synaptic proteins across modern lineages. Here, we provide an overview of the current state of knowledge on the distribution and function of synaptic proteins in early branching animals and their closest protistan relatives. We propose a model in which the evolution of chemical synapses from specialized secretory cells was tightly linked to lifestyle and behaviour in early animals.
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