'Friend' protein keeps nerve signals in check

Among the many thousands of proteins in the cell, some are essential players while some are "hangers-on." The neuronal protein syntaxin is essential. Without it, you die. A more recently discovered protein called tomosyn hangs on, or binds, to syntaxin. Its Japanese discoverers named it tomosyn by combining tomo -- "friend" in Japanese -- with "syn" for syntaxin, to mean "friend of syntaxin."