Analysis of membrane traffic in polarized epithelial cells
Joshua H Lipschutz1, Lucy Erin O'Brien1, Yoram Altschuler1
1University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
Abstract:
Spatial asymmetry is fundamental to the structure and function of most eukaryotic cells. A basic aspect of this polarity is that the cell's plasma membrane is divided into discrete domains. The best studied and simplest example of this occurs in epithelial cells, which line exposed body surfaces. Epithelial cells use two pathways to send proteins to the cell surface. Newly made proteins can travel directly from the trans-Golgi network (TGN) to either the apical or basolateral surface. Alternatively, proteins can be sent to the basolateral surface and then endocytosed and transcytosed to the apical surface. Epithelial cells grown on porous filters adopt a typical polarized morphology; transfected epithelial cells can be used to biosynthetically characterize the trafficking patterns of a given protein. These cells can also be used to study delivery to a particular surface and to localize the protein by immunofluorescence.
Related Concept Videos
Introduction to Membrane Traffic
The transport of soluble and membrane proteins is mediated by transport vesicles that collect cargo from one cellular compartment and deliver it to another by fusing with the target organelle membrane. The Rab...
Introduction to Membrane Traffic
The transport of soluble and membrane proteins is mediated by transport vesicles that collect cargo from one cellular compartment and deliver it to another by fusing with the target organelle membrane. The Rab...
The Significance of Membrane Transport
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...
Membrane Asymmetry Regulating Transporters
Flippase
Eukaryotic flippases are type-IV P-type ATPases or P4-ATPases belonging to P-type ATPase family proteins that are membrane-bound pumps involved in the ATP-mediated transport of ions and molecules across the membrane. Flippases flip specific phospholipids from the outer to the inner leaflet of a membrane. All P4-ATPases have one...
Membrane Domains
Protein Domains
The membrane comprises a group of distinct proteins responsible for carrying out a cell's specific function. For example, the plasma membrane of the human sperm, or a single germ cell, contains a unique set of proteins in the anterior...
Transcellular Transport of Solutes


