Factors affecting membrane traffic in yeast

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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.