Neurotransmission: harnessing fusion machinery at the synapse

Neurotransmission requires the docking of synaptic vesicles to the presynaptic plasma membrane, and their signal-dependent fusion. These processes use a general 'machinery' operating at several intracellular vesicular transport steps and, in addition, use a set of unique components that characterizes this specific form of regulated secretion. This review summarizes recent progress that has significantly increased our understanding of how intracellular transport vesicles dock and fuse with their target membrane, both in the synapse and elsewhere.