Towards an understanding of the molecular mechanism of neurotransmitter release

The pre‐ and postsynaptic events during neurotransmission are highly regulated and subject to stimulated changes. In the presynaptic terminal, these changes modulate the releasable pool and the neurotransmitter release probability of synaptic vesicles. This “synaptic plasticity” could play a role in learning. Our approach to understand the molecular basis for neurotransmitter release consists of a combination of structural and biophysical studies. Structural information is first obtained primarily by X‐ray crystallography about the most important complexes between the individual protein components. This information then provides the framework for investigations targeted at the dynamic aspects of the system using single molecule fluorescence microscopy techniques.