Journal of Biological Chemistry
Volume 273, Issue 33, 14 August 1998, Pages 21105-21110
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CELL BIOLOGY AND METABOLISM
A Novel Multiple PDZ Domain-containing Molecule Interacting withN-Methyl-d-aspartateReceptors and Neuronal Cell Adhesion Proteins*

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At synaptic junctions, pre- and postsynaptic membranes are connected by cell adhesion and have distinct structures for specialized functions. The presynaptic membranes have a machinery for fast neurotransmitter release, and the postsynaptic membranes have clusters of neurotransmitter receptors. The molecular mechanism of the assembly of synaptic junctions is not yet clear. Pioneering studies identified postsynaptic density (PSD)-95/SAP90 as a prototypic synaptic scaffolding protein to maintain the structure of synaptic junctions. PSD-95/SAP90 belongs to a family of membrane-associated guanylate kinases and binds N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors, potassium channels, and neuroligins through the PDZ domains and GKAP/SAPAP/DAP through the guanylate kinase (GK) domain. We performed here a yeast two-hybrid screening for SAPAP-interacting molecules and identified a novel protein that has an inverse structure of membrane-associated guanylate kinases with an NH2-terminal GK-like domain followed by two WW and five PDZ domains. It binds SAPAP through the GK-like domain and NMDA receptors and neuroligins through the PDZ domains. We named this protein S-SCAM (synaptic scaffolding molecule) because S-SCAM may assemble receptors and cell adhesion proteins at synaptic junctions.

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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

The nucleotide sequence(s) reported in this paper has been submitted to the GenBank™/EMBL Data Bank with accession number(s) AF034863.