EMBO Journal 2015-03-12

TFG clusters COPII-coated transport carriers and promotes early secretory pathway organization.

Adam Johnson, Nilakshee Bhattacharya, Michael Hanna, Janice G Pennington, Amber L Schuh, Lei Wang, Marisa S Otegui, Scott M Stagg, Anjon Audhya

Index: EMBO J. 34(6) , 811-27, (2015)

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Abstract

In mammalian cells, cargo-laden secretory vesicles leave the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) en route to ER-Golgi intermediate compartments (ERGIC) in a manner dependent on the COPII coat complex. We report here that COPII-coated transport carriers traverse a submicron, TFG (Trk-fused gene)-enriched zone at the ER/ERGIC interface. The architecture of TFG complexes as determined by three-dimensional electron microscopy reveals the formation of flexible, octameric cup-like structures, which are able to self-associate to generate larger polymers in vitro. In cells, loss of TFG function dramatically slows protein export from the ER and results in the accumulation of COPII-coated carriers throughout the cytoplasm. Additionally, the tight association between ER and ERGIC membranes is lost in the absence of TFG. We propose that TFG functions at the ER/ERGIC interface to locally concentrate COPII-coated transport carriers and link exit sites on the ER to ERGIC membranes. Our findings provide a new mechanism by which COPII-coated carriers are retained near their site of formation to facilitate rapid fusion with neighboring ERGIC membranes upon uncoating, thereby promoting interorganellar cargo transport. © 2015 The Authors.