Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Research Center for Nanobiology and Nanomedicine (MOE 985 Innovative Platform), State Key Laboratory of Virology, and Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
Biomaterials. 2011 Oct;32(30):7616-24. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2011.06.046. Epub 2011 Jul 18.
Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) is a paradigm for understanding intracellular transport of lectins. As a protein exploiting the receptor-mediated endocytosis for internalization, WGA is also a valuable model system for exploring the endocytic and exocytic pathway. In this study, quantum dot-based single-particle tracking was performed to investigate the transport of WGA in live cells, revealing firstly that the endocytic and exocytic processes of WGA were both actin- and microtubule-dependent, each including five stages. The vesicle fusion event occurred near the cytomembrane, followed by two destinies with WGA: shedding to the extracellular or reversing to the cytoplasm. These findings suggest a distinct and dynamic scenario for the transport of lectins following a receptor-mediated endo/exocytic pathway in live cells. This is important for the application of lectins as drug carriers and antineoplastic drugs in medicine, and also offers insights into the pathway of endocytosis and exocytosis.
小麦胚凝集素（WGA）是理解细胞内凝集素运输的典范。作为一种利用受体介导的内吞作用进行内化的蛋白质，WGA 也是探索内吞作用和外排途径的有价值的模型系统。在这项研究中，进行了基于量子点的单粒子跟踪，以研究 WGA 在活细胞中的运输，首先揭示了 WGA 的内吞作用和外排作用都依赖于肌动蛋白和微管，每个过程都包括五个阶段。囊泡融合事件发生在细胞质膜附近，随后 WGA 有两个命运：脱落到细胞外或返回细胞质。这些发现为活细胞中受体介导的内吞/外排途径中凝集素的运输提供了一个独特而动态的场景。这对于将凝集素作为药物载体和抗肿瘤药物在医学中的应用非常重要，也为内吞作用和外排作用的途径提供了新的见解。
