BCH3021 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Retromer, Ldl Receptor, Phosphatidylinositol
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Lecture 20 – Secretory Vesicle Structure and Trafficking
• Proteins are transported between organelles in transport vesicles
• There are different types of vesicles with different destinations
• Vesicle formation involves polymerization of coat proteins
• Vesicles move along microtubules
• Docking and fusion of vesicles is receptor-mediated
Four Classes of Transporters in the Secretory Pathway
• COP II – ER to Golgi
• COP I – Golgi to ER
• Clathrin
o TGN to endosomes
o Surface to endosomes
o TGN to basolateral membrane
• Retromer – endosome to TGN
• Unknown – TGN to surface in non-polarized cells
Vesicles are Defined by Coat Structure
• Vesicles are formed by reversible polymerization of coat proteins and other
components on a membrane surface
• The type of vesicle can thus be defined by its coat protein
• Clathrin-coated vesicles move between TGN, surface, early endosome
• Coatomer-coated vesicles move between ER and Golgi
o COP II vesicles move from ER to Golgi
o COP I vesicles move from Golgi to ER
• Retromer – coated vesicles move between endosomes and TGN
Targeting of Cargo Proteins to Vesicles Requires Information
• Specific sorting signals on cargo proteins direct them into correct vesicles
• Signals are short amino acid motifs in cytoplasmic domain of cargo protein –
interact with adaptors or vesicle coat proteins
• A cargo protein may also be a receptor that captures a soluble molecule
lacking a signal e.g. LDL receptor captures LDL
Steps in Vesicle Trafficking
• Problems cell faces: having proteins in
membrane bound compartment
o Crossing two membranes
• Solves: pinching off membrane →
spherical transport vehicle
Distinguishing organelles: Phosphoinositides
• Inositol phospholipids make up <10% of
membranes
• Membranes vary in physiological
properties
• Rapidly converted to phosphoinositides
by kinases (enzymes that add phosphates
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to head group), and modified by phosphatases (enzymes that remove
phosphates from head group)
• Proteins can bind to head groups of specific phosphoinositides
• Phosphoinositides assist in coat assembly and act as markers of organelle
identity
Molecular Mechanisms of Vesicular Traffic
• How are transport vesicles formed?
• How do vesicles move?
• What dictates vesicles specificity?
• How does vesicle fuse with target organelle?s
Phosphoinositides act as organelle identifiers in vesicular
trafficking
• Answers how vesicles know where to go
• Different organelles have different sets of
phosphoinositides
• Pls can be inter-converted e.g. PI(4)P can be
converted into PI(4,5)P2 by a kinase
• During vesicle formation adaptor or coat proteins
bind to specific phosphoinositides – controlling where
and what type of coats assemble
Rab Proteins
• Can use rab to fingerpint different
structures/organelles within secretory pathway
• Lysosomes: Rab7
• >60 Rab proteins in mammals
• Every secretory or endocytic organelle or vesicle has at least one Rab type on
its surface
• Different vesicles have different Rabs → explain targeting specificity
Features of Budding and Vesicle Formation
• GTP binding protein regulates the rate of vesicle
formation (molecular switch)
• Adaptor proteins select the cargo protein by
recognizing a signal motif
• Coat and adaptor proteins polymerize on cytoplasmic
face of budding vesicle and deform the membrane
• Sanction specific vesicles
Example: initiation of vesicle formation (COP II)
• Binding of inactive Sart1-GDP (soluble) to Sar1-
guanine-nucleotide exchange factor (initiator in membrane) → causes release
of GDP and binding of GTP → causes conformational change in Sar1
• Helical tail of Sar1 – exposed and mediates membrane binding
• Membrane bound Sar1 binds to coat proteins (sec23/24) → promotes
assembly of coat proteins into a cage around budding membrane
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