Intracellular targeting signals and lipid specificity determinants of the ALA/ALIS P4-ATPase complex reside in the catalytic ALA alpha-subunit.

Members of the P(4) subfamily of P-type ATPases are believed to catalyze flipping of phospholipids across cellular membranes, in this way contributing to vesicle biogenesis in the secretory and endocytic pathways. P(4)-ATPases form heteromeric complexes with Cdc50-like proteins, and it has been suggested that these act as beta-subunits in the P(4)-ATPase transport machinery. In this work, we investigated the role of Cdc50-like beta-subunits of P(4)-ATPases for targeting and function of P(4)-ATPase catalytic alpha-subunits. We show that the Arabidopsis P(4)-ATPases ALA2 and ALA3 gain functionality when coexpressed with any of three different ALIS Cdc50-like beta-subunits. However, the final cellular destination of P(4)-ATPases as well as their lipid substrate specificity are independent of the nature of the ALIS beta-subunit they were allowed to interact with.