Pelham H R
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 2QH, United Kingdom.
Exp Cell Res. 1999 Feb 25;247(1):1-8. doi: 10.1006/excr.1998.4356.
SNARE proteins lie at the heart of the membrane fusion events in the secretory and endocytic pathways. Physical interactions between them are thought not only to provide the driving force for bringing membranes together, but also to contribute to the specificity of vesicle targeting. Completion of the yeast genome sequence has allowed the full set of SNAREs to be identified. Characterization of these helps to define the number of distinct compartments and the nature of the transport steps between them, but also shows that SNAREs are by no means the sole determinants of fusion specificity. Evolutionary conservation of SNAREs suggests that despite the differences in scale and morphology, many features of membrane organization are similar in yeast and animal cells. This review summarizes current knowledge of the yeast SNAREs and the picture of the secretory pathway that emerges from such studies.
SNARE蛋白是分泌途径和内吞途径中膜融合事件的核心。它们之间的物理相互作用不仅被认为是促使膜融合的驱动力，还对囊泡靶向的特异性有贡献。酵母基因组序列的完成使得全套SNARE得以鉴定。对这些SNARE的表征有助于确定不同区室的数量以及它们之间运输步骤的性质，但同时也表明SNARE绝不是融合特异性的唯一决定因素。SNARE的进化保守性表明，尽管在规模和形态上存在差异，但酵母和动物细胞中膜组织的许多特征是相似的。本综述总结了目前关于酵母SNARE的知识以及此类研究中所呈现的分泌途径的情况。
