Open AccessA Role for Lipids in Protein Sorting?
Author(s) -
Auxiliadora Aguilera-Romero,
Manuel Muñiz
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chimia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.387
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 2673-2424
pISSN - 0009-4293
DOI - 10.2533/chimia.2021.1026
Subject(s) - endomembrane system , protein targeting , endoplasmic reticulum , microbiology and biotechnology , sorting , secretory pathway , membrane protein , lipid droplet , biology , membrane lipids , cell , chemistry , biochemistry , membrane , golgi apparatus , computer science , programming language
Lipid and protein diversity provides structural and functional identity to the membrane compartments that define the eukaryotic cell. This compositional heterogeneity is maintained by the secretory pathway, which feeds newly synthesized proteins and lipids to the endomembrane systems. The precise sorting of lipids and proteins through the pathway guarantees the achievement of their correct delivery. Although proteins have been shown to be key for sorting mechanisms, whether and how lipids contribute to this process is still an open discussion. Our laboratory, in collaboration with other groups, has recently addressed the long-postulated role of membrane lipids in protein sorting in the secretory pathway, by investigating in yeast how a special class of lipid-linked cell surface proteins are differentially exported from the endoplasmic reticulum. Here we comment on this interdisciplinary study that highlights the role of lipid diversity and the importance of protein-lipid interactions in sorting processes at the cell membrane.