Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Ivica, J. et al. Proton-triggered rearrangement of the AMPA receptor N-terminal domains impacts receptor kinetics and synaptic localization. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-024-01369-5 (2024).