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Molecular and Cellular Mechanism of Vesicle Trafficking
Chen Yuanying, Hao Zhenhua, Li Wei*
Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, National Center for Children’s Health, Beijing 100045, China
Abstract: Endomembrane system constitutes natural barriers between cells and organelles to ensure that important life activities are regulated in compartments. The transport of cargoes such as proteins and lipids between membrane-bound organelles in cells is mainly mediated by vesicles. Vesicle trafficking requires the involvement of cargoes， transport complexes， motor proteins and microtubules， as well as many regulators in the process of vesicle budding， docking and fusion. Since 1960s， the secretory pathway had been characterized by several key steps， firstly synthesizing in the endoplasmic reticulum， then entering into the Golgi apparatus and transporting soluble and membrane proteins to their appropriate destination in the cell. Later on， the signal peptide hypothesis was proposed. Further investigations have gained insights into the details of vesicle trafficking， including the discovery of key regulatory genes and their roles in the protein transport pathway from ER to Golgi， the role of SNAREs (soluble N-ethyl-maleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors) in vesicle docking and fusion. In the neuronal synaptic vesicles， a typical model in vesicle trafficking， a calcium-binding protein (synaptotagmin) triggers synaptic vesicle fusion. Synaptagmin transmits calcium signals to synaptic vesicles which fuse with plasma membrane to release neurotransmitters through its interaction with SNARE complexes. Here we reviewed the molecular and cellular mechanism of vesicle trafficking by mainly focusing on three aspects， the history of studying vesicular trafficking， the current progress of this field and the future prospects.
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