William Green, Ph.D.
Research Summary
My research is focused on the cell biology of ionotropic
neurotransmitter receptors, the receptors responsible for the rapid
postsynaptic response in nerve and muscle. These receptors are large
oligomeric membrane proteins with subunits surrounding an ion channel
that opens when neurotransmitters bind to the receptor. There are two
different families of ionotropic neurotransmitter receptors. One family
includes nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChRs), GABA and glycine
receptors, and the other family covers the ionotropic glutamate
receptors. There are several projects ongoing in my lab characterizing
the assembly, trafficking and clustering of these receptors. Assembly
refers to the processes that transform newly synthesized subunits into
functional receptors usually in the endoplasmic reticulum. Trafficking
refers to the processes that transport the receptors to different
location in cells and targets them to these locations. Clustering are
the processes that pack and maintain the receptors in regions of high
density such as synapses.
Selected Papers
Green WN and Claudio T. (1993). Acetylcholine receptor
assembly: subunit folding and
oligomerization occur sequentially. Cell, 74: 57-69.
Green WN
and Wanamaker CP. (1998). Formation of the nicotinic acetylcholine
receptor binding sites. Journal of Neuroscience, 18:5555-5564.
Rakhilin S, Drisdel RC, Sagher D, McGehee D, Vallejo Y
and Green WN. (1999). - Bungarotoxin receptors
contain 7 subunits in two different disulfide-bonded conformations.
Journal of Cell Biology, 146: 203-218.
Eertmoed
AL and Green WN. (1999). Nicotinic receptor assembly requires
multiple regions throughout the gamma subunit. Journal of Neuroscience,
19: 6298-6308.
Drisdel RC and
Green WN. (2000). Neuronal -bungarotoxin receptors are homomers
composed of five 7 subunits. Journal of Neuroscience, 20: 133-139.
Mitra M, Wanamaker CP, Christianson JC and Green WN.
(2001). Rearrangement
of nicotinc receptor subunits during the formation of ligand binding
sites. Journal of Neuroscience, 21: 3000-3008.
Christianson JC and Green WN. (2004). Regulation of
Nicotinic
Receptor Expression by the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System. EMBO Journa,l
23:4156-65.
Drisdel RC, Manzana E and Green WN. (2004). The
role of palmitoylation in functional expression of nicotinic 7
receptors Journal of Neuroscience, 24:10502-10510.
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