SHANK1a N-Terminus

Shank is a novel family of postsynaptic density proteins (PSD) that bind to PSD-95-associated protein GKAP. Its putative function is to act as a scaffold protein in the PSD to cross-link NMDA receptors/PSD-95 complexes and couple them to regulators of the actin cytoskeleton. Shank1a is a splice variant of Shank1.

Shank1 A has also been found to be associated with L-type Ca2+ channels.  Olson et al., J Neurosci. 2005, 25:1050-62; Zhang et al., J Neurosci. 2005, 25:1037-49) the same channels used by photoreceptors for transmitter release.