Evolution of the membrane trafficking system associated with acquisition and secondary loss of RAB GTPases and SNAREs

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H04382
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Plant molecular biology/Plant physiology
• Research Institution: National Institute for Basic Biology (2016-2017); The University of Tokyo (2015)
• Principal Investigator: UEDA TAKASHI 基礎生物学研究所, 細胞動態研究部門, 教授 (10311333)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 膜交通 / 多様化 / 進化 / RAB GTPase / SNARE

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We performed functional analyses of RAB GTPases and SNARE proteins newly acquired or secondarily lost during plant evolution. We found that PUF2, an effector protein of plant-unique RAB GTPase ARA6, also interacts with canonical RAB5 in a competitive manner with ARA6 to integrate functions of the two groups of RAB GTPases. We also discovered that the plant-specific SNARE protein, VAMP727, mediates membrane fusion between endosomes and the vacuolar membrane in cooperation with RAB5 and the CORVET complex, while its homolog VAMP71 mediates membrane fusion between vacuoles with RAB7 and the HOPS complex. Furthermore, we unraveled that distinct groups of ANTH domain-containing proteins mediate endocytosis of distinctive cargo proteins including SNARE proteins and receptor-like kinases.

Free Research Field

植物分子細胞生物学