Core formation and the acquisition of fusion competence are linked during secretory granule maturation in Tetrahymena.

ABSTRACT: The formation of dense core secretory granules is a multistage process beginning in the trans Golgi network and continuing during a period of granule maturation. Direct interactions between proteins in the membrane and those in the forming dense core may be important for sorting during this process, as well as for organizing membrane proteins in mature granules. We have isolated two mutants in dense core granule formation in the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila, an organism in which this pathway is genetically accessible. The mutants lie in two distinct genes but have similar phenotypes, marked by accumulation of a set of granule cargo markers in intracellular vesicles resembling immature secretory granules. Sorting to these vesicles appears specific, since they do not contain detectable le

SUBMITTER: Bowman GR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4708285 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature