BOCCACCIO , Anna

The brain is a complex organ composed of billions of neurons connected through excitatory and inhibitory synapses. Its structure reveals a modular topological organization, where neurons are arranged in interconnected assemblies. The generated patterns of electrophysiological activity are shaped by two main factors: network heterogeneity and...

Phosphatidylinositol-3,5-bisphosphate (PI(3,5)P2) is a low-abundance signaling lipid associated with endo-lysosomal and vacuolar membranes in eukaryotic cells. Recent studies on Arabidopsis indicated a critical role of PI(3,5)P2in vacuolar acidification and morphology during ABA-induced stomatal closure, but the molecular targets in plant cells...

Poyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are powerful modulators of several animal ion channels. It is shown here that PUFAs strongly affect the activity of the Slow Valcuolar (SV) channel encoded by the plant TPC1 gene. The patchclamp technique was applied to isolated vaculoes from carrot taproots and Arabidopsis thaliana mesophyll cells and...

Two-pore channel proteins (TPC) encode intracellular ion channels in both animals and plants. In mammalian cells, the two isoforms (TPC1 and TPC2) localize to the endo-lysosomal compartment, whereas the plant TPC1 protein is targeted to the membrane surrounding the large lytic vacuole. Although it is well established that plant TPC1 channels...

• Ion transport proteins in intracellular membranes of eukaryotic cells play key roles in many physiological and pathological processes. • The function of many of these transporters is poorly understood, because their intracellular localization makes them difficult to study. • Here, we used the large organelle of plant cells, the central...