Calnexin: a membrane-bound chaperone of the endoplasmic reticulum

J J Bergeron1, M B Brenner, D Y Thomas

  • 1Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

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The endoplasmic reticulum or ER makes up for more than half of the membranes in a cell and accounts for 10% of total cell volume. It is also the primary protein and lipid synthesis factory for most cell organelles, such as the Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, secretory vesicles, and the plasma membrane. Despite being the most extensive and functionally complex subcellular organelle, ER was the last to be discovered. After years of deliberation, Keith Porter and George Palade in the year 1954,...