Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 8, 2026

Nanogold Labeling of the Yeast Endosomal System for Ultrastructural Analyses
Published on: July 14, 2014
The secretory pathway at 50: a golden anniversary for some momentous grains of silver
Karl S Matlin1, Michael J Caplan2
1Department of Surgery, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637-1470.
Abstract:
The secretory pathway along which newly synthesized secretory and membrane proteins traffic through the cell was revealed in two articles published 50 years ago. This discovery was the culmination of decades of effort to unite the power of biochemical and morphological methodologies in order to elucidate the dynamic nature of the cell's biosynthetic machinery. The secretory pathway remains a central paradigm of modern cell biology. Its elucidation 50 years ago inspired tremendous multidisciplinary and on-going efforts to understand the machinery that makes it run, the adaptations that permit it to serve the needs of specialized cell types, and the pathological consequences that arise when it is perturbed.
Related Concept Videos
Secretory Phase
Following ovulation, the corpus luteum, a temporary endocrine structure, produces progesterone and estrogens. These hormones stimulate the growth and coiling of endometrial...
Overview of Secretory Vesicles
Various proteins regulate the aggregation of molecules inside the secretory vesicles. Chromogranins...
Role of ER in the Secretory Pathway
Components of the secretory pathway
About a third of proteins synthesized in the cell are sorted via the secretory route. They shuffle between different compartments in membrane-bound vesicles until they reach their final destination. The main intracellular compartments involved...
ER Retrieval Pathway
The ER uses many checkpoints to prevent the entry of incorrectly folded or a resident protein as cargo onto a transport vesicle. These mechanisms...
Fusion of Secretory Vesicles with the Plasma Membrane
In 1993, Jim Rothman proposed that the antiparallel pairing of vesicular and transmembrane SNAREs, or...
Exocrine Glands: Methods of Secretion
Merocrine Secretion
Merocrine secretion is the most common type of exocrine secretion. The secretions are enclosed in vesicles and moved to the cell's apical surface, where the contents are released by exocytosis. For example, mucous, a watery secretion rich in the glycoprotein mucin, is a merocrine secretion. The eccrine...

