Structure of a lipid-bound extended synaptotagmin indicates a role in lipid transfer.

ABSTRACT: Growing evidence suggests that close appositions between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and other membranes, including appositions with the plasma membrane (PM), mediate exchange of lipids between these bilayers. The mechanisms of such exchange, which allows lipid transfer independently of vesicular transport, remain poorly understood. The presence of a synaptotagmin-like mitochondrial-lipid-binding protein (SMP) domain, a proposed lipid-binding module, in several proteins localized at membrane contact sites has raised the possibility that such domains may be implicated in lipid transport. SMP-containing proteins include components of the ERMES complex, an ER–mitochondrial tether, and the extended synaptotagmins (known as tricalbins in yeast), which are ER–PM tethers. Here we present at 2.

SUBMITTER: Schauder CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4135724 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature