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The evolving understanding of COPI vesicle formation

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 10, pages 360–364 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The coat protein I (COPI) complex is considered to be one of the best-characterized coat complexes. Studies on how it functions in vesicle formation have provided seminal contributions to the general paradigm in vesicular transport that the ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) small GTPases are key regulators of coat complexes. Here, we discuss emerging evidence that suggests the need to revise some long-held views on how COPI vesicle formation is achieved.

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Figure 1: Pathways of vesicular transport by the better characterized coat proteins.
Figure 2: A model for COPI vesicle formation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Luini, R. Premont, J. Li and M. Bai for discussions. This work is funded by the National Institutes of Health. We apologize for not being able to cite all recent advances in COPI vesicle formation owing to the focused nature of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stella Y. Lee and Jia-Shu Yang are at the Division of Rheumatology, and the Department of Medicine, Victor W. Hsu, Immunology and Allergy, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.,

    Victor W. Hsu, Stella Y. Lee & Jia-Shu Yang

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Hsu, V., Lee, S. & Yang, JS. The evolving understanding of COPI vesicle formation. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 10, 360–364 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2663

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