Jahn, Reinhard, Prof. Dr.

Professor, Emeritus Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen

1981 Dr. rer. nat., University of Göttingen, Germany
1985 Assistant Professor, The Rockefeller University, New York, USA
1986 Junior Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Martinsried, Germany
1991 Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Cell Biology, Yale University, and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New Haven, USA
1995 Professor of Pharmacology and Cell Biology, Yale University, New Haven
1997 Director and Professor of the Department of Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen
1997-2001 Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology, Yale University School of Medicine,New Haven, USA
2001 Adjunct Professor of Biology, University of Göttingen
2019 Emeritus Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen
2020 President of the University of Göttingen
2021 Emeritus Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen

Major Research Interests

Our group is interested in the mechanisms of membrane fusion, with the main emphasis on regulated exocytosis in neurons. Intracellular membrane fusion events are mediated by a set of conserved membrane proteins, termed SNAREs. For fusion to occur, complementary sets of SNAREs need to be present on both of the fusing membranes, which then assemble in a zipper-like fashion to initiate membrane merger. The neuronal SNAREs are among the best characterized. They are the targets of the toxins responsible for botulism and tetanus, and they are regulated by several addtional proteins including synaptotagmin, the calcium sensor for neurotransmitter release. To understand how these proteins mediate fusion, we study their properties in vitro with biochemical and biophysical approaches using native and artificial membranes.
In a second set of projects, we are interested in the mechanisms by which synaptic vesicles sequester and store neurotransmitters. Uptake is mediated by specific vesicular neurotransmitter transporters that are energized by an electrochemical proton gradient across the membrane. Presently we aim for a better understanding of the transport mechanisms using a variety of biochemical and biophysical approaches including imaging of single vesicles. Finally, we use quantitative proteomics to better understand how the presynaptic protein network contributes to the regulation of synaptic release, focusing on protein phosphorylation.

Homepage Department/Research Group

https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/jahn

Selected Recent Publications

Upmanyu, N., Jin, J., von der Emde, H., Ganzella, M., Bösche, L., Malviya, V.N., Zhuleku, E., Politi, A., Ninov, M., Silbern, I., Leutenegger, M., Urlaub, H., Riedel, D., Preobraschenski, J., Milosevic, I., Hell, S.W., Jahn, R., Sambandan, S. (2022) Co-localization of different neurotransmitter transporters on synaptic vesicles is sparse except for VGLUT1 and ZnT3. Neuron 110, 1483-1497

Witkowska, A., Heinz, L.P., Grubmüller, H., Jahn, R. (2021) Tight docking of membranes before fusion represents a novel, metastable state with unique properties. Nature Comm. 14: 3606. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23722-8

Silbern, I., Pan, K.-T., Fiosins, M., Bonn, S., Rizzoli, S.O., Fornasiero, E.F., Urlaub, H., Jahn, R. (2021) Protein phosphorylation in depolarized synaptosomes: Dissecting primary effects of calcium from synaptic vesicle cycling. Mol. Cell. Proteomics 20, 100061. doi: 10.1016/j.mcpro.2021.100061

Witkowska, A., Spindler, S., Mahmoodabadi, R.G., Sandoghdar, V., Jahn, R. (2020) Differential diffusional properties in loose and tight docking prior to membrane fusion. Biophys. J. 119, 2431-2439

Yavuz, H., Kattan, I., Hernandez, J.M., Hofnagel, O., Witkowska, A., Raunser, S., Walla, P.J., Jahn, R. (2018) Arrest of trans-SNARE zippering uncovers loosely and tightly docked intermediates in membrane fusion. J. Biol. Chem., 293, 8645-8655