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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Peroxisome Staining in Mammalian Cells Using Peroxisome-Specific Probes
Published on: December 19, 2025
Peroxin 5: a cycling receptor for protein translocation into peroxisomes
Chris P Williams1, Will A Stanley
1European Molecular Biology Laboratory, c/o DESY, Hamburg, Germany.
Abstract:
Peroxins are proteins that regulate the biogenesis of peroxisomes-small vesicular subcellular organelles essential for human life and health. A key peroxin - to date the best studied - is peroxin 5. Structurally, peroxin 5 is a bi-domain protein of about 70 kDa containing both globular and non-globular segments and displaying conformational flexibility. Functionally, it is a cycling receptor for importing essential enzymes into the peroxisome lumen, facilitated by highly promiscuous interactions with numerous proteins and possibly lipids. Peroxin 5 has medical significance in that (i) congenital defects can lead to fatal peroxisome biogenesis disorders, (ii) inefficient peroxisome targeting is linked to disease and aging and (iii) differences between human peroxin 5 and homologues in pathogens may be exploited in the development of therapeutics.
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