A membrane trafficking pathway regulated by the plant-specific RAB GTPase ARA6
Author: ["Kazuo Ebine","Masaru Fujimoto","Yusuke Okatani","Tomoaki Nishiyama","Tatsuaki Goh","Emi Ito","Tomoko Dainobu","Aiko Nishitani","Tomohiro Uemura","Masa H. Sato","Hans Thordal-Christensen","Nobuhiro Tsutsumi","Akihiko Nakano","Takashi Ueda"]
Publication: Nature Cell Biology
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Abstract
Plants possess a unique repertoire of SNARE and RAB GTPase proteins that regulate membrane trafficking events. The plant-specific RAB protein ARA6 regulates the formation of a specific SNARE complex to modulate the response to environmental cues. Endosomal trafficking plays an integral role in various eukaryotic cell activities and serves as a basis for higher-order functions in multicellular organisms. An understanding of the importance of endosomal trafficking in plants is rapidly developing1,2, but its molecular mechanism is mostly unknown. Several key regulators of endosomal trafficking, including RAB5, which regulates diverse endocytic events in animal cells3,4, are highly conserved. However, the identification of lineage-specific regulators in eukaryotes indicates that endosomal trafficking is diversified according to distinct body plans and lifestyles. In addition to orthologues of metazoan RAB5, land plants possess a unique RAB5 molecule, which is one of the most prominent features of plant RAB GTPase organization5,6. Plants have also evolved a unique repertoire of SNAREs, the most distinctive of which are diverse VAMP7-related longins, including plant-unique VAMP72 derivatives7. Here, we demonstrate that a plant-unique RAB5 protein, ARA6, acts in an endosomal trafficking pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana. ARA6 modulates the assembly of a distinct SNARE complex from conventional RAB5, and has a functional role in the salinity stress response. Our results indicate that plants possess a unique endosomal trafficking network and provide the first indication of a functional link between a specific RAB and a specific SNARE complex in plants.
Cite this article
Ebine, K., Fujimoto, M., Okatani, Y. et al. A membrane trafficking pathway regulated by the plant-specific RAB GTPase ARA6. Nat Cell Biol 13, 853–859 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb2270
