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Fig. 3. Diagram of NCAM-mediated accumulation of TGN organelles at sites of contact followed by synaptic differentiation. TGN-derived carriers (gray) are bound to clusters of NCAM (red) by the plasma membrane-cytoskeleton linker protein spectrin (blue). Initially, the contact site does not contain NCAM-tethered organelles, but then captures NCAM-associated TGN organelles through NCAM-mediated interactions at the contact site. Next, TGN organelles further accumulate at stabilized contacts. Finally, the contact is transformed into a functional synapse where presynaptic transport carriers give rise to synaptic vesicles (green) and postsynaptic carriers are transformed into postsynaptic density components (black). In the mature synapse, spectrin is a prominent component of the postsynaptic membrane. Spectrin isoforms have also been detected, although less prominently, in the presynaptic compartment. Figure reproduced with permission from The Rockefeller University Press (Sytnyk et al., 2002).
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