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Updated: Oct 4, 2025

Visualization of Endoplasmic Reticulum Subdomains in Cultured Cells
Published on: February 18, 2014
Specialized endoplasmic reticulum-derived vesicles in plants: Functional diversity, evolution, and biotechnological
Xie Li1, Xifeng Li1, Baofang Fan2
1College of Life Science, Key Laboratory of Marine Food Quality and Hazard Controlling Technology of Zhejiang Province, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, 310018, China.
Abstract:
A central role of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the synthesis, folding and quality control of secretory proteins. Secretory proteins usually exit the ER to enter the Golgi apparatus in coat protein complex II (COPII)-coated vesicles before transport to different subcellular destinations. However, in plants there are specialized ER-derived vesicles (ERDVs) that carry specific proteins but, unlike COPII vesicles, can exist as independent organelles or travel to the vacuole in a Golgi-independent manner. These specialized ERDVs include protein bodies and precursor-accumulating vesicles that accumulate storage proteins in the endosperm during seed development. Specialized ERDVs also include precursor protease vesicles that accumulate amino acid sequence KDEL-tailed cysteine proteases and ER bodies in Brassicales plants that accumulate myrosinases that hydrolyzes glucosinolates. These functionally specialized ERDVs act not only as storage organelles but also as platforms for signal-triggered processing, activation and deployment of specific proteins with important roles in plant growth, development and adaptive responses. Some specialized ERDVs have also been exploited to increase production of recombinant proteins and metabolites. Here we discuss our current understanding of the functional diversity, evolutionary mechanisms and biotechnological application of specialized ERDVs, which are associated with some of the highly remarkable characteristics important to plants.
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