Biology

Dr. Amit Joshi
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

S. cerevisiae contains three conserved reticulon and reticulon-like proteins that help maintain ER structure by stabilizing high membrane curvature in ER tubules and the edges of ER sheets. A mutant lacking all three proteins has dramatically altered ER morphology. We found that ER shape is restored in this mutant when Pex30p or its homologue Pex31p is overexpressed. Pex30p can tubulate membranes both in cells and when reconstituted into proteoliposomes, indicating that Pex30p is a novel ER-shaping protein. In contrast to the reticulons, Pex30p is low abundance and we found that it localizes to subdomains in the ER. We show that these ER subdomains are the sites where most pre-peroxisomal vesicles (PPVs) are generated. In addition, overproduction or deletion of Pex30p or Pex31p alters the size, shape, and number of PPVs. Our findings suggests that Pex30p and Pex31p help shape and generate regions of the ER where PPV biogenesis occurs.