Autophagy is a catabolic process for bulk degradation of cytosolic materials mediated by double-membraned autophagosomes. The membrane determinant to initiate the formation of autophagosomes remains elusive. Here, we establish a cell-free assay based on LC3 lipidation to define the organelle membrane supporting early autophagosome formation. In vitro LC3 lipidation requires energy and is subjec...

A typical vertebrate cell contains several hundred sites of transitional ER (tER). Presumably, tER sites generate elements of the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC), and ERGIC elements then generate Golgi cisternae. Therefore, characterizing the mechanisms that influence tER distribution may shed light on the dynamic behavior of the Golgi. We explored the properties of tER sites using Se...

The vesicle-associated membrane protein-associated protein B (VAP-B) is a tail-anchored protein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). VAP-B functions as an adaptor protein to recruit target proteins to the ER and execute various cellular functions, lipid transport, membrane traffic, ER stress etc. Recently, VAP-B has been shown to regulate the nuclear envelope protein transport through the ER-Golg...

We have recently identified a novel form of post-translational regulation of BACE1 (beta-site amyloid precursor protein-cleaving enzyme 1), a membrane protein that acts as the rate-limiting enzyme in the generation of the Alzheimer disease amyloid beta-peptide. Specifically, nascent BACE1 is transiently acetylated in seven lysine residues clustered in a highly disordered region of the protein t...

population. Current pharmacological approaches focus primarily on the g-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic system, the major inhibitory neurotransmitter system of the central nervous system (CNS). Drugs that enhance synaptic GABA-ergic neurotransmission are widely utilized in the clinical setting for their sedative or hypnotic effects. Several classes of compounds—GABA, benzodiazepines, barbiturate...

Vaccinia virus (VV) membrane biogenesis is a poorly understood process. It has been proposed that cellular membranes derived from the endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) are incorporated in the early stages of virion assembly. We have recently shown that the VV 21-kDa (A17L gene) envelope protein is essential for the formation of viral membranes. In the present work, we...

In human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma (NB) cells, nascent immature N-glycosylated 110kDa TrkA moves rapidly from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the Golgi Network (GN), where it matures into the 140kDa receptor prior to being transported to the cell surface, creating GN and cell surface pools of inactive receptor maintained below the spontaneous activation threshold by a full compliment of inhibitor...

AIMS Angiotensin(1-7) (Ang1-7) acting at the level of the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) affects arterial pressure. The cellular substrate of Ang1-7 remains unknown. We sought to determine which cell types in RVLM could mediate its actions and whether these are altered in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR). METHODS AND RESULTS Astrocytes, catecholaminergic (CA-ergic) and non-CA-er...

Like other coronaviruses, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS CoV) assembles at and buds into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC). Accumulation of the viral envelope proteins at this compartment is a prerequisite for virus assembly. Previously, we reported the identification of a dibasic motif (KxHxx) in the cytoplasmic tail of the ...