Disease relevance of VSNL1

• VILIP and NCS-1, neural-specific, 22-kDa Ca(2+)-binding proteins possessing four EF-hands, were expressed in Escherichia coli to study their divalent cation properties [1].

High impact information on VSNL1

• Ca2+ binding promotes a 20-30% increase of fluorescence in both proteins, but whereas the Mg2+ form of VILIP has the same fluorescence properties as the metal-free form, Mg(2+)-saturated NCS-1 has those of the Ca2+ form [1].
• VILIP possesses two additional thiols, one of which is inaccessible to DTNB in the native protein [1].
• Localization of chick retinal visinin-like immunoreactivity in the rat forebrain and diencephalon [2].
• Family members contain four potential calcium-binding domains commonly referred to as "EF-hand motifs". VILIP interacts in a calcium-dependent manner with the actin-based neuronal cytoskeleton and modulates the phosphorylation of G-protein-coupled receptors, i.e., rhodopsin, in vitro [3].
• Here, we describe the distribution of immunoreactivity (IR) detected by antibodies against chick VILIP in the gerbil hippocampus at the light and electron microscopic level [4].

Anatomical context of VSNL1

• The OZ1 cDNA hybridizes to two transcripts of 1.6 kb and 2.9 kb which are widely expressed in the brain but not detectable in liver, heart or skeletal muscle [5].
• VILIP immunoreactivity is found in cell bodies, dendrites, and synaptic structures [3].
• Furthermore visinin-like immunoreactivity was barely detectable in the photoreceptor cells of bovine, rat and mouse retinae containing mostly rod cells [6].
• Intense punctate staining in the molecular layer suggests that VILIP is transported from deep cerebellar nuclei and from granule cells to the glutamatergic climbing-fiber and parallel-fiber synapses, respectively, both of which terminate on Purkinje-cell dendrites [3].
• The localization of VILIP in these presynaptic terminals has been confirmed at the electron-microscopic level [3].

Other interactions of VSNL1

• VILIP, a cognate protein of the retinal calcium binding proteins visinin and recoverin, is expressed in the developing chicken brain [5].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of VSNL1

• Here, we have characterized one of these cDNAs (OZ1) by Northern analysis and in situ hybridization [5].

References