The plant ER-Golgi interface

Grab a Golgi: laser trapping of Golgi bodies reveals in vivo interactions with the endoplasmic reticulum

In many vacuolate plant cells, individual Golgi bodies appear to be attached to tubules of the pleiomorphic cortical endoplasmic reticulum (ER) network. Such observations culminated in the controversial mobile secretory unit hypothesis to explain transport of cargo from the ER to Golgi via Golgi attached export sites. This proposes that individual Golgi bodies and an attached-ER exit machinery move over or with the surface of the ER whilst collecting cargo for secretion. By the application of infrared laser optical traps to individual Golgi bodies within living leaf cells, we show that individual Golgi bodies can be micromanipulated to reveal their association with the ER. Golgi bodies are physically attached to ER tubules and lateral displacement of individual Golgi bodies results in the rapid growth of the attached ER tubule. Remarkably, the ER network can be remodelled in living cells simply by movement of laser trapped Golgi dragging new ER tubules through the cytoplasm and new ER anchor sites can be established. Finally, we show that trapped Golgi ripped off the ER are 'sticky' and can be docked on to and attached to ER tubules, which will again show rapid growth whilst pulled by moving Golgi.

Arginine/lysine residues in the cytoplasmic tail promote ER export of plant glycosylation enzymes

Plant N-glycan processing enzymes are arranged along the early secretory pathway, forming an assembly line to facilitate the step-by-step modification of oligosaccharides on glycoproteins. Thus, these enzymes provide excellent tools to study signals and mechanisms, promoting their localization and retention in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi apparatus. Herein, we focused on a detailed investigation of amino acid sequence motifs present in their short cytoplasmic tails in respect to ER export. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we determined that single arginine/lysine residues within the cytoplasmic tail are sufficient to promote rapid Golgi targeting of Golgi-resident N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase I (GnTI) and alpha-mannosidase II (GMII). Furthermore, we reveal that an intact ER export motif is essential for proper in vivo function of GnTI. Coexpression studies with Sar1p provided evidence for COPII-dependent transport of GnTI to the Golgi. Our data provide evidence that efficient ER export of Golgi-resident plant N-glycan processing enzymes occurs through a selective mechanism based on recognition of single basic amino acids present in their cytoplasmic tails.

Intermediate organelles of the plant secretory pathway: identity and function

The secretory pathway of eukaryotic cells comprises a network of organelles that connects three large membranes, the plasma membrane, the vacuole and the endoplasmic reticulum. The Golgi apparatus and the various post-Golgi organelles that control vacuolar sorting, secretion and endocytosis can be regarded as intermediate organelles of the endocytic and biosynthetic routes. Many processes in the secretory pathway have evolved differently in plants and cannot be studied using yeast or mammalian cells as models. The best characterized organelles are the Golgi apparatus and the prevacuolar compartment, but recent work has shed light on the role of the trans Golgi network, which has to be regarded as a separate organelle in plants. In this study, we wish to highlight recent findings regarding the late secretory pathway and its crosstalk with the early secretory pathway as well as the endocytic route in plants. Recently published findings and suggested models are discussed within the context of known features of the equivalent pathway in other eukaryotes.