Protein secretion

2012
Reid Aikin, Alexandra Cervantes, Gisela D'Angelo, Laurent Ruel, Sandra Lacas-Gervais, Sébastien Schaub, and Pascal Thérond. 2012. “A genome-wide RNAi screen identifies regulators of cholesterol-modified hedgehog secretion in Drosophila.” PLoS One, 7, 3, Pp. e33665.Abstract

Hedgehog (Hh) proteins are secreted molecules that function as organizers in animal development. In addition to being palmitoylated, Hh is the only metazoan protein known to possess a covalently-linked cholesterol moiety. The absence of either modification severely disrupts the organization of numerous tissues during development. It is currently not known how lipid-modified Hh is secreted and released from producing cells. We have performed a genome-wide RNAi screen in Drosophila melanogaster cells to identify regulators of Hh secretion. We found that cholesterol-modified Hh secretion is strongly dependent on coat protein complex I (COPI) but not COPII vesicles, suggesting that cholesterol modification alters the movement of Hh through the early secretory pathway. We provide evidence that both proteolysis and cholesterol modification are necessary for the efficient trafficking of Hh through the ER and Golgi. Finally, we identified several putative regulators of protein secretion and demonstrate a role for some of these genes in Hh and Wingless (Wg) morphogen secretion in vivo. These data open new perspectives for studying how morphogen secretion is regulated, as well as provide insight into regulation of lipid-modified protein secretion.

2012_PLOS One_Aikin.pdf Supplemental Files.zip
2010
Franz Wendler, Alison K Gillingham, Rita Sinka, Cláudia Rosa-Ferreira, David E Gordon, Xavier Franch-Marro, Andrew A Peden, Jean-Paul Vincent, and Sean Munro. 2010. “A genome-wide RNA interference screen identifies two novel components of the metazoan secretory pathway.” EMBO J, 29, 2, Pp. 304-14.Abstract

Genetic screens in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae have identified many proteins involved in the secretory pathway, most of which have orthologues in higher eukaryotes. To investigate whether there are additional proteins that are required for secretion in metazoans but are absent from yeast, we used genome-wide RNA interference (RNAi) to look for genes required for secretion of recombinant luciferase from Drosophila S2 cells. This identified two novel components of the secretory pathway that are conserved from humans to plants. Gryzun is distantly related to, but distinct from, the Trs130 subunit of the TRAPP complex but is absent from S. cerevisiae. RNAi of human Gryzun (C4orf41) blocks Golgi exit. Kish is a small membrane protein with a previously uncharacterised orthologue in yeast. The screen also identified Drosophila orthologues of almost 60% of the yeast genes essential for secretion. Given this coverage, the small number of novel components suggests that contrary to previous indications the number of essential core components of the secretory pathway is not much greater in metazoans than in yeasts.

2010_EMBO_Wendler.pdf Supplemental Files.zip
2006
Frederic Bard, Laetitia Casano, Arrate Mallabiabarrena, Erin Wallace, Kota Saito, Hitoshi Kitayama, Gianni Guizzunti, Yue Hu, Franz Wendler, Ramanuj DasGupta, Norbert Perrimon, and Vivek Malhotra. 2006. “Functional genomics reveals genes involved in protein secretion and Golgi organization.” Nature, 439, 7076, Pp. 604-7.Abstract

Yeast genetics and in vitro biochemical analysis have identified numerous genes involved in protein secretion. As compared with yeast, however, the metazoan secretory pathway is more complex and many mechanisms that regulate organization of the Golgi apparatus remain poorly characterized. We performed a genome-wide RNA-mediated interference screen in a Drosophila cell line to identify genes required for constitutive protein secretion. We then classified the genes on the basis of the effect of their depletion on organization of the Golgi membranes. Here we show that depletion of class A genes redistributes Golgi membranes into the endoplasmic reticulum, depletion of class B genes leads to Golgi fragmentation, depletion of class C genes leads to aggregation of Golgi membranes, and depletion of class D genes causes no obvious change. Of the 20 new gene products characterized so far, several localize to the Golgi membranes and the endoplasmic reticulum.

2006_Nature_Bard.pdf Supplemental Files.zip