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Updated: Apr 23, 2026

Author Spotlight: Image-Based Methods to Study Membrane Trafficking Events in Stomatal Lineage Cells
Published on: May 12, 2023
Missing pieces of an ancient puzzle: evolution of the eukaryotic membrane-trafficking system
Alexander Schlacht1, Emily K Herman1, Mary J Klute1
1Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H7, Canada.
Abstract:
The membrane-trafficking system underpins cellular trafficking of material in eukaryotes and its evolution would have been a watershed in eukaryogenesis. Evolutionary cell biological studies have been unraveling the history of proteins responsible for vesicle transport and organelle identity revealing both highly conserved components and lineage-specific innovations. Recently, endomembrane components with a broad, but patchy, distribution have been observed as well, pieces that are missing from our cell biological and evolutionary models of membrane trafficking. These data together allow for new insights into the history and forces that shape the evolution of this critical cell biological system.
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