Specificity of plant membrane trafficking – ARFs, regulators and coat proteins

• Published in: Seminars in cell & developmental biology Vol. 80; pp. 85 - 93
• Main Authors: Singh, Manoj K., Jürgens, Gerd
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2018
• Subjects: Adaptor complex; Animals; ARF GTPase; ARF GTPase-activating protein (ARF-GAP); ARF guanine-nucleotide exchange factor (ARF-GEF); Capsid Proteins - metabolism; Endocytosis - physiology; Eukaryotic Cells - metabolism; GTPase-Activating Proteins - metabolism; Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors - metabolism; Humans; Protein Transport - physiology; Vesicle formation; ARF GTPase-activating protein (ARF-GAP); ARF GTPase; Adaptor complex; ARF guanine-nucleotide exchange factor (ARF-GEF); Vesicle formation
• ISSN: 1084-9521; 1096-3634
• DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2017.10.005

Approximately one-third of all eukaryotic proteins are delivered to their destination by trafficking within the endomembrane system. Such cargo proteins are incorporated into forming membrane vesicles on donor compartments and delivered to acceptor compartments by vesicle fusion. How cargo proteins are sorted into forming vesicles is still largely unknown. Here we review the roles of small GTPases of the ARF/SAR1 family, their regulators designated ARF guanine-nucleotide exchange factors (ARF-GEFs) and ARF GTPase-activating proteins (ARF-GAPs) as well as coat protein complexes during membrane vesicle formation. Although conserved across eukaryotes, these four functional groups of proteins display plant-specific modifications in composition, structure and function.