Defective recycling of synaptic vesicles in synaptotagmin mutants of caenorhabditis elegans

SYNAPTOTAGMIN, an integral membrane protein of the synaptic vesicle^1,2, binds calcium and interacts with proteins of the plasma membrane^4–6. These observations suggest several possible functions for synaptotagmin in synaptic vesicle dynamics: it could facilitate exocytosis by promoting calcium-dependent fusion³, inhibit exocytosis by preventing fusion⁷, or facilitate endocytosis of synaptic vesicles from the plasma membrane by acting as a receptor for the endocytotic proteins of the clathrin AP2 complex⁸. Here we show that synaptic vesicles are depleted at synaptic terminals in synaptotagmin mutants of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. This depletion is not caused by a defect in transport or by increased synaptic vesicle release, but rather by a defect in retrieval of synaptic vesicles from the plasma membrane. Thus we propose that, as well as being involved in exocytosis, synaptotagmin functions in vesicular recycling.