Liquid-liquid phase separation facilitates the biogenesis of secretory storage granules.

ABSTRACT: Insulin is synthesized by pancreatic β-cells and stored into secretory granules (SGs). SGs fuse with the plasma membrane in response to a stimulus and deliver insulin to the bloodstream. The mechanism of how proinsulin and its processing enzymes are sorted and targeted from the trans-Golgi network (TGN) to SGs remains mysterious. No cargo receptor for proinsulin has been identified. Here, we show that chromogranin (CG) proteins undergo liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) at a mildly acidic pH in the lumen of the TGN, and recruit clients like proinsulin to the condensates. Client selectivity is sequence-independent but based on the concentration of the client molecules in the TGN. We propose that the TGN provides the milieu for converting CGs into a "cargo sponge" leading to partitioning

SUBMITTER: Parchure A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9526250 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature