Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 25, 2025

Visualizing Intracellular SNARE Trafficking by Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy
Published on: December 29, 2017
Geranylgeranyl generosity: a new prenyl-transferase gives a fat to a SNARE protein
Amy F Roth1, Nicholas G Davis1
1Department of Pharmacology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
Abstract:
Protein prenylation, a well-defined protein consensus motifs direct modification by one of three prenyl-transferases, has been an area of fairly settled science for 20 or 30 years. Protein prenylation, the specific prenyl modification (farnesyl or geranylgeranyl), as well as the prenyl-transferases involved can be inferred by protein sequence. Two new papers now upset this settled wisdom with the discovery of a fourth prenyl-transferase, namely geranylgeranyl-transferase-III (GGTase-III) (Kuchay et al, 2019; Shirakawa et al, 2020).
Related Concept Videos
SNAREs and Membrane Fusion
SNAREs exist in pairs that symmetrically interact and catalyze the fusion of the lipid bilayers in vesicle and target organelle. v-SNARE in the vesicle membrane are single polypeptide chains that bind to a complementary t-SNARE, composed of 2...
Coat Assembly and GTPases
Coat assembly depends on the local availability of phosphatidylinositol phosphates or PIPs and GTP-binding proteins. Adaptor proteins, which link the coat proteins to the membrane, bind to these PIPs and play a crucial role in controlling...
Protein Modifications in the RER
Broadly, these modifications can be categorized into four main categories — glycosylation, formation of disulfide bonds, assembly of protein subunits, and specific proteolytic cleavages like removal of signal...
Tail-anchoring of Proteins in the ER Membrane
Fusion of Secretory Vesicles with the Plasma Membrane
In 1993, Jim Rothman proposed that the antiparallel pairing of vesicular and transmembrane SNAREs, or...
GPI Anchoring of Proteins in the ER Membrane
GPI-anchor structure
A sequence of 11 enzymatic reactions results in the synthesis of the complete GPI anchor consisting of a hydrophobic and a hydrophilic portion. The hydrophobic portion comprises phosphatidylinositol, while the hydrophilic part comprises polar groups like phosphoethanolamine,...

