Factors affecting membrane traffic in yeast

细胞正常运作的能力取决于其补充的蛋白质和脂类被分离到适当的细胞内位置。这是通过一个被称为膜运输的复杂过程实现的，在这个过程中，蛋白质和脂类在小泡囊载体的细胞器之间穿梭。一些细胞器，如高尔基体，从许多不同的舱室接收进入的货物，因此，必须能够协调这一过程，以避免可能干扰其正常功能的形态变化。已致力于查明在具体贩运路径中起作用的因素。然而，正如上面的例子所强调的，有必要了解这些单独的路径是如何相互通信的，以避免出现有害的情况。这是一个刚刚开始解决的研究领域，并构成了我提议的研究计划的很大一部分基础。在过去的十年里，我的工作重点是研究酿酒酵母中一类相关的蛋白质复合体，称为TRapp，以及它们在膜运输中的作用。这个家族中的一位成员在高尔基隔间的水平上工作。我们将建立在最近的几个发现的基础上，这些发现表明这种蛋白质复合体在物理上与高尔基山脉晚期和高尔基山脉内的交通所需的其他因素相互作用。我们将探索这些相互作用以及它们如何影响特定的膜转运步骤。我们还将建立在我们团队最近的另一项研究的基础上，该研究质疑各种TRapp复合体之间的关系以及它们在细胞中的确切功能。这将通过使用纯化的成分在体外完全重建依赖于TRapp的膜转运途径来探索。这些方法将使我们能够探索几个细胞通路之间的串扰，这是一个最近才曝光其重要性的研究领域。

The ability of a cell to properly function is dependent on the segregation of its complement of proteins and lipids to the appropriate intracellular location. This is achieved by a complex process referred to as membrane traffic, whereby the proteins and lipids shuttle between organelles in small vesicular carriers. Some organelles, such as the Golgi, receive incoming cargo from many different compartments and, therefore, must be able to coordinate this process to avoid morphological changes which could interfere with its proper functioning. Much work has been devoted to identifying the factors that function in specific trafficking pathways. However, as the example above highlights, there is a need to understand how these individual pathways communicate with each other to avoid detrimental situations. This is an area of study that is only beginning to be addressed and forms the basis for a large portion of my proposed research program. Over the past decade my work has focused on a family of related protein complexes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae called TRAPP and their roles in membrane traffic. One member of this family functions at the level of the Golgi compartment. We will build off of several recent findings that suggest that this protein complex physically interacts with other factors required for traffic both at the late Golgi and within the Golgi. We will explore these interactions and how they affect specific membrane trafficking steps. We will also build off of another recent study from our group that calls into question the relationship between the various TRAPP complexes and where exactly they function in the cell. This will be explored by fully reconstituting the TRAPP-dependent membrane trafficking pathways in vitro using purified components. These approaches will allow us to explore the cross-talk between several cellular pathways, an area of research whose importance has only very recently come to light.