Conserved Functions of Membrane Active GTPases in Coated Vesicle Formation
Thomas J. Pucadyil and
Sandra L. Schmid*
Coated vesicles concentrate and package cargo molecules to mediate
their efficient transport between intracellular compartments.
Cytosolic coat proteins such as clathrin and adaptor complexes
and coat protein complex I (COPI) and COPII self-assemble to
deform the membrane and interact directly with cargo molecules
to capture them in nascent buds. The guanosine triphosphatases
(GTPases) Arf, Sar1, and dynamin are core components of the
coated vesicle machinery. These GTPases, which associate with
and dissociate from donor membranes in a guanosine triphosphate–dependent
manner, can also actively remodel membranes. Recent evidence
suggests that, although structurally diverse, Arf family GTPases
and dynamin may play mechanistically similar roles as fidelity
monitors that govern cargo packaging and coated vesicle maturation
and as components of the fission machinery to mediate vesicle
release.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: slschmid{at}scripps.edu
