Eyes without a ribbon

Abstract

Eye and ear employ specialized glutamatergic synapses that feature an elaborate electron‐dense projection—the synaptic ribbon. Despite major efforts, the function of the synaptic ribbon has remained enigmatic, because its brick‐stone‐like core‐component RIBEYE has remained hard to crack genetically. In an elegant study, Maxeiner et al ( ) genetically deleted RIBEYE in mice. This abolished retinal ribbons and impaired exocytosis at the presynaptic active zone of bipolar cells.