Lecture 16: Vesicular Transport Flashcards
1
Q
Vesicular transport
A
- Protein transport between ER, Golgi complex, plasma membrane and vesicles is achieved through vesicular transport.
- The vesicles bud off of the donor compartment and then travel between compartments in the cell along defined, regulated pathways and fuse specifically with their targets
2
Q
Vesicular transport #2
A
- Represents movement between compartments that are topologically similar
- Budding and fusion are not inverses of each other
- > In budding, the lumen face touches first
- > In fusion, the cytosolic face touches first
3
Q
What does vesicular sorting depend on?
A
- Depends on the assembly of a special protein coat formed at specific locations along a given donor compartment
- 3 code proteins that are responsible for this targeting
4
Q
COPII
A
- Responsible for vesicle traffic between the ER and the Golgi
- Coats ER-to-Golgi vesicles
5
Q
COPI
A
- Responsible for vesicle traffic within the Golgi
- Coats vesicles moving from Golgi to ER, Golgi to plasma membrane (secretory vesicles), and within the Golgi
6
Q
Clathrin
A
- Responsible for vesicle traffic between the plasma membrane and the endosomes; in some cases the Golgi
- Mainly involved in transport to/from and within the endosomal compartments
7
Q
Coat Proteins Represent the Initial Step in Vesicle Formation
A
- Transport vesicles bud off as coated vesicles that have a distinctive cage of proteins covering their cytosolic surface.
- > The cage of proteins is there to help the vesicle form and to target it
- Before the vesicle fuses with a target membrane, the coat is discarded, to allow the two cytosolic membrane surfaces to interact directly and fuse.
- Different coat proteins are involved in transport between different organelles
8
Q
Phospholipids containing inositol head groups mark organelles and membrane domains
A
- Inositols can get phosphorylated at various locations by different lipid kinases (often located in distinct organelles, providing specificity)
- > The inositols can be phosphorylated at different positions and they can be differentiated as well
- PI’s can recruit various proteins that possess lipid binding domains
- These lipid binding domains usually only recognize a specific type of PI
9
Q
Regulation of coat assembly and vesicle stability
A
- Adapter proteins bind to membrane proteins and recruit coat proteins
- > Often bind to cargo receptors – transmembrane proteins that bind soluble cargo proteins for transport
- Coat recruitment GTPases control coat assembly
- > Monomeric GTPases regulate many steps in vesicular traffic
- > Sar-1 regulates COPII assembly
- > Arf proteins regulate COPI and clathrin assembly
10
Q
Regulation of coat assembly and vesicle stability #2
A
- Sar1-GDP = cytosol = inactive
- > Contains an amphipathic helix hidden in this form
- Sar1-GTP = ER membrane-bound = active
- Sar1-GEF causes Sar1-GDP to exchange GDP for GTP, which causes a conformation change causing the amphipathic helix to show
- Active Sar1-GTP then promotes the assembly of coat complexes
- GTP hydrolysis causes coat disassembly after budding
- > The GTPase regulates both coat assembly and disassembly
11
Q
Vesicle docking and targeting
A
- Membrane traffic needs to proceed in an orderly way
- > Transport vesicles must be highly selective in recognizing the correct target membrane with which to fuse.
- Specificity in targeting: surface markers that identify vesicles according to their origin and type of cargo.
- Target membranes display complementary receptors that recognize the appropriate markers.
12
Q
SNAREs
A
- One of the two classes of protein that control recognition of donor vesicles by acceptor membranes
- Provide specificity & catalyze vesicular the fusion of with the target membrane.
- v-SNAREs: vesicle
- t-SNAREs: target membrane
- The interaction between v-SNAREs and t-SNAREs drives fusion between the vesicle and the target membrane
13
Q
Rabs (GTPases)
A
- One of the two classes of protein that control recognition of donor vesicles by acceptor membranes
- Work together with other proteins to regulate the initial docking and tethering of the vesicle to the target membrane; on the vesicle
14
Q
Cargo Recruitment
A
- Entry into vesicles leaving the ER is usually a selective process
- Membrane proteins: have exit signals in their cytosolic ‘tails’ that are recognized by coat proteins
- Soluble Proteins: bind to cargo receptors that have exit signals in their cytosolic ‘tails’
15
Q
Vesicular tubular clusters
A
- Transport vesicles leaving the ER fuse together to form intermediate compartments called these
- Travel towards the cis Golgi via motor proteins on microtubule tracks
- Generate coated vesicles going back to the ER (COPI coat) – retrograde transport