Control systems for membrane fusion in the ancestral eukaryote; evolution of tethering complexes and SM proteins.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In membrane trafficking, the mechanisms ensuring vesicle fusion specificity remain to be fully elucidated. Early models proposed that specificity was encoded entirely by SNARE proteins; more recent models include contributions from Rab proteins, Syntaxin-binding (SM) proteins and tethering factors. Most information on membrane trafficking derives from an evolutionarily narrow sampling of model organisms. However, considering factors from a wider diversity of eukaryotes can provide both functional information on core systems and insight into the evolutionary history of the trafficking machinery. For example, the major Qa/syntaxin SNARE families are present in most eukaryotic genomes and likely each evolved via gene duplication from a single ancestral syntaxin before the e

SUBMITTER: Koumandou VL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1810245 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature