Intracellular membrane traffic: pathways, carriers, and sorting devices

Multiple pathways of intracellular membrane traffic have been detected in various cell types. The major established routes are (a) the exocytosis pathway, utilized in secretory cells for the discharge of secretory products, and which is also believed to be used for delivery of intrinsic membrane glycoproteins in all cell types; (b) the plasmalemma to Golgi route, also highly developed in secretory cells, which is believed to be utilized for the recovery and recycling of the membranes of containers used in packaging of secretory products (i.e., secretory granules or vesicles); (c) the lysosomal pathway, which is available in all cells but is the major route utilized in phagocytic cells; (d) the transcellular route, which represents the major type of traffic encountered in nonfenestrated, capillary endothelial cells and also appears to be the preferred route for the transport of immunoglobulins (intact) across cells; and (e) the biosynthetic pathways used for transport of secretory products, lysosomal enzymes, and membrane proteins from the ER to the Golgi complex and for transport of lysosomal enzymes from the Golgi complex to lysosomes in all cell types. It has become clear that cells repeatedly reutilize or recycle the vesicular membranes involved in carrying out these various transport operations. Clathrin-coated vesicles have been found to be involved in transport along all the routes detected so far, suggesting that there are multiple populations of coated vesicles with different transport functions in every cell. It has become clear that considerable sorting of membrane constituents and ligands takes place at the plasmalemma (receptor-mediated uptake), in the Golgi complex, and in endosomes. The Golgi complex is the intracellular site where much of the biosynthetic and recycling membrane traffic converges and where products are sorted and directed to their correct destinations. In summary, we have become aware of the existence of multiple pathways of membrane traffic and of the extensive reutilization or recycling of membranes that occurs in cells. The basic pathways are similar in all cells except that some are emphasized or deemphasized according to the predominant function and organization of a given cell type. What now remains to be done is to determine how these transporting membranes and the membranes of the receiving compartments are constructed, how their specific interactions are controlled, and how individual cell types utilize these pathways to carry out their specific functions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)