Land-locked mammalian Golgi reveals cargo transport between stable cisternae

The Golgi is composed of a stack of cis, medial, trans cisternae that are biochemically distinct. The stable compartments model postulates that permanent cisternae communicate through bi-directional vesicles, while the cisternal maturation model postulates that transient cisternae biochemically mature to ensure anterograde transport. Testing either model has been constrained by the diffraction limit of light microscopy, as the cisternae are only 10-20 nm thick and closely stacked in mammalian cells. We previously described the unstacking of Golgi by the ectopic adhesion of Golgi cisternae to mitochondria. Here, we show that cargo processing and transport continue-even when individual Golgi cisternae are separated and "land-locked" between mitochondria. With the increased spatial separation of cisternae, we show using three-dimensional live imaging that cis-Golgi and trans-Golgi remain stable in their composition and size. Hence, we provide new evidence in support of the stable compartments model in mammalian cells.The different composition of Golgi cisternae gave rise to two different models for intra-Golgi traffic: one where stable cisternae communicate via vesicles and another one where cisternae biochemically mature to ensure anterograde transport. Here, the authors provide evidence in support of the stable compartments model.