Vesicular Trafficking Flashcards
Secretory Pathway
ER –> Golgi –> Organelle/Plasma membrane
Trans Golgi Network sorting
Constitutive vs Regulated
Constitutive:
- Secretory proteins are continuously secreted (serum proteins)
- Transported in vesicles directed to plasma membrane for exocytosis
Regulated:
- Storing proteins in secretory vesicles awaiting a stimulus for exocytosis
- e.g. Insulin secretion in Pancreatic B cells (also neurotransmitters)
- > Calcium influx triggers fusion of vesicles with membrane and exocytosis
Studying the secretory pathway: VSV-G Trafficking
Vesicular Stomatitis Virus G-protein = abundant membrane glycoprotein with a temperature sensitive mutant that can be labelled
- Can Switch ON/OFF transport using temperature and track the pathway from labelling
Studying the secretory pathway: Endo-D Cleavage
Modifying membrane with mannose trimming to become sensitive to Endo-D enzyme cleavage
- ER resident proteins = untrimmed (full oligosaccharide complement present) and therefore insensitive to Endo-D
- Cleaved (Golgi) and Uncleaved (ER) forms distinguished by size on SDS-PAGE
- Proteins must be radiolabelled at 40 degrees to prevent correct folding (return to 32 degrees for correct folding)
Assembly of vesicle protein coat
Drives vesicle formation and cargo molecule selection
- Driven by polymerisation of soluble proteins complexes on the cytosolic side of the protein
- Provides curvature and acts as a filter regulating other proteins that can be added
- Can disassemble to leave a completed transport vesicle
Vesicle formation depends on:
- Shapes of phospholipids when 2 bilayer faces are asymmetric
- Large curved proteins (scaffold and bend membrane)
- Insertion of amphipathic a-helices into one side of bilayer
- Oligomerization of several monomers scaffolding and curving membrane
- High surface concentration of membrane-binding proteins: adds steric pressure to bend bilayer
Small GTP-binding proteins regulating vesicle coat assembly (COPI & COPII)
COPI & Clathrin = ARF1
COPII = SAR1
SAR1 GTP-binding protein
Needed for COPII vesicle assembly
1 - Sec12 catalyses GTP binding to SAR1: causes conformation change to expose hydrophobic N-terminus
2 - Membrane-attached SAR1 drives polymerisation of COPII vesicles acting as a binding site for the Sec23/24 complex
3 - Sec23 promotes GTP hydrolysis of SAR1
4 - Release of SAR1-GDP causes coat disassembly
Vesicle coats selecting cargo proteins
Targeting sequences on cargo proteins are selected for by vesicle coat
- COPII coat: ternary complex between SAR1, Sec23 and Sec24
- Target sequence = Diacidic motifs in COPII cargo
Guiding vesicles to target membranes:
SNARE proteins
v-SNAREs (vesicular)
- e.g. Synaptobrevin
- Incorporated into the membranes of transport vesicles during budding
- a.k.a. R-SNAREs: contribute an Arginine (R) residue
t-SNAREs (target)
- e.g. Synbaxin or SNAP-25
- Associated with target membranes
- a.k.a. Q-SNAREs: contribute a Glutamine (Q) residue
Guiding vesicles to target membranes:
GTPases, Rab proteins
GTPases play important role in regulating vesicle formation, movement along cytoskeleton and fusion to target.
Activated Rab enters membranes and recruits effector proteins:
1 - Rab-GDP present in cytosol bound to GDP Dissociation Inhibitor (GDI) preventing activation
2 - At appropriate location, GDI-Displacement Factor (GDF) displaces GDI
3 - With GDI displaced, Guanine Exchange Factor (GEF) can activate Rab by exposing its prenyl group (hydrophobic) to bind to membrane
4 - Rab-GTP can bind Rab effector proteins to recruit specific proteins
5 - GTP hydrolysis releases Rab to bind to GDI again
Early Stages of Secretory Pathway
Anterograde
- COPII vesicles
- ER –> Golgi
Retrograde
- COPI vesicles
- Golgi –> ER
Later stages of Secretory Pathway
Cis Golgi –> Trans Golgi (Oligosaccharide modifications)
- COPI retrograde transport from Trans to Cis
- Glycosyl transferases maintained at sufficient levels in Cis-Golgi (O-linked glycosylation)
- TGN for protein sorting
O-linked glycosylation
Adding a large glycan (sugar) to an exposed Oxygen atom of protein in phosphorylated (active) form
- Occurs exclusively in Cis Golgi
- Mediated by Glycosyl Transferases
Clathrin structure
A triskelia composed of 3 clathrin heavy chains and 3 light chains:
- Triskelia interact with each other to form a polyhedral lattice that surrounds the vesicle