Membrane Dynamics and Function Flashcards
what are the 4 general ways substances can be exchanged across the PM?
lipophilic substances dissolve in PM, channels allow materials to diffuse through, transporters couple transport to energy source to move materials against concentration gradient, in eukaryotes vesicles used to import and export materials
why are lipophilic chemical signals made on demand?
cells can’t retain them as they can dissolve in and pass through membranes
how are non-lipophilic messengers recognised by cells?
bind to either extracellular binding site on a channel or on an allosteric membrane-spanning protein
describe the nucleus
home to genome, separated from cytosol by double membrane penetrated by complex nuclear pores (perhaps 4000/nucleus) through which materials guided in and out
describe the endoplasmic reticulum
most abundant and invasive organelle, makes contact with most other organelles in cell, encloses ER lumen where proteins mature and Ca2+ stored
what does the RER have that the SER doesn’t?
studded with ribosomes (site of protein synthesis)
role of ER?
lipid synthesis, steroid synthesis, protein maturation, Ca2+ storage, RER= protein synthesis
describe the Golgi apparatus + its roles
stacks of tubules linked to ER by vesicular trafficking. important roles in maturation/glycosylation of proteins + their dispatch to other intracellular destinations
how many mitochondrial genes are there? what do they do?
- encode tiny fraction of mitochondrial proteins. are transcribed and translated within mitochondria using machinery reminiscent of bacteria.
how are proteins dispatched to different locations after forming on a cytosolic ribosome?
address labels within primary sequence dispatch proteins to different destinations
what causes fully folded proteins to move to the nucleoplasm through nuclear pores?
nuclear localisation signals
why do all proteins that don’t go to the nucleus have to remain partially unfolded before reaching their final destinations?
the rest all have to cross a membrane to reach their final destinations, need to be partially unfolded to be threaded through protein pore within target membrane
state of proteins destined for mitochondria and peroxisomes before being dispatched from ribosome?
fully translated
what is co-translational targeting, what destination usually has proteins that use co-translational targeting?
when the protein is dispatched before translation is complete. proteins destined for ER usually use this
what is the nuclear localisation signal?
stretch of around 6 positively charged residues anywhere in primary sequence of proteins, recognised by importin, directs reversible passage through nuclear pores
address label for proteins destined for peroxisomes?
C-terminal sequence SKL-e recognised by PTS1 receptor
what causes Zellweger syndrome?
non-functional PTS1 receptor for proteins targeted to peroxisomes
what are the 4 destinations in the mitochondria for proteins?
inner and outer membranes, inter-membrane space, matrix
what is the address label for proteins destined for the mitochondrial matrix?
N terminal amphipathic helix recognised by a chaperone protein
is targeting to peroxisomes and mitochondria reversible or irreversible?
irreversible
where can proteins sent to the ER be sent to from there?
Golgi, lysosomes, secretory pathway, plasma membrane
signal sequence for proteins sent to the ER lumen vs ER membrane?
hydrophobic signal sequence (at least 8 continuous hydrophobic residues) at the N terminal for ER lumen proteins, internally for integral membrane proteins. recognised by the SRP
what is the SRP?
signal recognition particle- a large protein-RNA complex which recognises the hydrophobic signal sequence of proteins sent to the ER
what happens when the SRP detects the hydrophobic signal sequence on an incompletely translated protein?
translation arrests, SRP-nascent peptide chain associates with SRP receptor on ER membrane. SRP receptor associates with translocon (protein channel in ER membrane), checks signal sequence of peptide. nascent peptide chain inserted in appropriate orientation into translocon (this is final orientation). SRP is released
what happens when the SRP releases the translocon?
translation resumes and the growing protein is threaded through the translocon which continues to survey the growing protein looking for stretches of hydrophobic residues to form membrane-spanning domains- these residues retained in translocon until all TMDs are fully assembled then pass into ER membrane
what happens as the growing peptide emerges through the translocon into the ER lumen?
it is scrutinised by enzymes, protease cleaves any N-terminal signal sequence, N-linked glycosylation occurs, chaperone proteins (e.g. BiP) pull the growing peptide into the ER lumen, help it fold, other enzymes make additional modifications
what enzyme catalyses N-linked glycosylation, where and to which residues?
oligosaccharyl transferase, in ER lumen, to Asn residues within the sequence Asn-X-Ser/Thr
what is ERAD?
ER-associated degradation
why is ERAD necessary?
some proteins are damaged in the ER lumen, must be removed or they could aggregate and clog the system
what does ERAD do?
allows misfolded proteins to be returned to cytosol via pore associated with a ubiquitin ligase that attaches Ub to Lys residues on the protein marking it for degradation
what is defective in Parkinson’ disease?
Parkin which encodes subunit of ubiquitin ligase, prevents ERAD
how many ER proteins are marked for degradation?
more than 30%- system plays safe
what happens in the most common cause of cystic fibrosis?
CFTR protein is degraded by ERAD before it can reach plasma membrane to mediate Cl- transport
how does CMV hijack the ERAD pathway?
expresses protein that associates with the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) that would normally display proteins on cell surface to indicate cell is infected so virus can hide within the cell
is targeting proteins to the ER from the cytosol reversible?
no
what happens to the folded glycosylated proteins produced in the ER?
collected into COPII vesicles, conveyed to the cis Golgi
what happens to glycosylated proteins within the cis-Golgi?
sugar structures are trimmed and modified, proteins destined for lysosomes have sugars modified to include mannose-6-phosphate.
what do vesicles travel via?
microtubules
what are Rab proteins?
small G-proteins which act as identity labels for organelle membranes
what happens in the Rab cycle?
Rab-GDP recruited to an intracellular membrane, activated if host has specific proteins needed to make it shed GDP and attach GTP. if another organelle recognises the Rab-GTP and has the proteins needed to hydrolyse the GTP, does this, releasing the Rab, interacting with the original membrane
what do COPII coat proteins do?
bind to specific cytosolic sequence of proteins embedded in ER membrane, collect them into clusters which are pinched off as small COPII vesicles,
that move along microtubules to the cis-Golgi and shed coat on the way to unmask underlying identity labels
what proteins mediate fusion of COPII vesicles with the cis-Golgi?
SNARE (SNAP receptor) proteins
how do SNARE proteins work?
draw the 2 organelle membranes close together to mediate their fusion
what carries cargo back from the Golgi to the ER?
COPI vesicles
what recognises luminal cargo?
KDEL sequence that binds to membrane protein KEL receptor which assembles a COPI coat. vesicles pinched off, recognition and fusion at ER lumen
function of the trans Golgi?
sorts proteins to different destinations