Syntaxins are a family of proteins involved in the docking of synaptic vesicles with the plasma membrane. Syntaxin, along with synaptobrevin and SNAP-25, forms the SNARE complex which mediates synaptic vesicle fusion and exocytosis. Binding of Munc18-1 to the N-terminus of syntaxin 1 has been demonstrated to be essential for exocytic membrane fusion (Khvotchev et al., 2007). Decreased levels of phosphorylated syntaxin 1 in the prefrontal cortex have recently been correlated with schizophrenia (Castillo et al., 2010).
