Abstract

A systematic forward genetic Drosophila screen for electroretinogram mutants lacking synaptic transients identified the fuseless (fusl) gene, which encodes a predicted eight-pass transmembrane protein in the presynaptic membrane. Null fusl mutants display >75% reduction in evoked synaptic transmission but, conversely, an approximately threefold increase in the frequency and amplitude of spontaneous synaptic vesicle fusion events. These neurotransmission defects are rescued by a wild-type fusl transgene targeted only to the presynaptic cell, demonstrating a strictly presynaptic requirement for Fusl function. Defects in FM dye turnover at the synapse show a severely impaired exo-endo synaptic vesicle cycling pool. Consistently, ultrastructural analyses reveal accumulated vesicles arrested in clustered and docked pools at presynaptic active zones. In the absence of Fusl, calcium-dependent neurotransmitter release is dramatically compromised and there is little enhancement of synaptic efficacy with elevated external Ca²⁺ concentrations. These defects are causally linked with severe loss of the Cacophony voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels, which fail to localize normally at presynaptic active zone domains in the absence of Fusl. These data indicate that Fusl regulates assembly of the presynaptic active zone Ca²⁺ channel domains required for efficient coupling of the Ca²⁺ influx and synaptic vesicle exocytosis during neurotransmission.