QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online November 18, 2009
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/jcs.032615

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Weisz, O. A. Articles by Rodriguez-Boulan, E. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Weisz, O. A. Articles by Rodriguez-Boulan, E. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Apical trafficking in epithelial cells: signals, clusters and motors

¹ Department of Medicine and Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of Pittsburgh, 3550 Terrace Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
² Margaret Dyson Vision Research Institute, Departments of Ophthalmology and Cell and Developmental Biology, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA

weisz{at}pitt.edu; boulan{at}med.cornell.edu

In the early days of epithelial cell biology, researchers working with kidney and/or intestinal epithelial cell lines and with hepatocytes described the biosynthetic and recycling routes followed by apical and basolateral plasma membrane (PM) proteins. They identified the trans-Golgi network and recycling endosomes as the compartments that carried out apical-basolateral sorting. They described complex apical sorting signals that promoted association with lipid rafts, and simpler basolateral sorting signals resembling clathrin-coated-pit endocytic motifs. They also noticed that different epithelial cell types routed their apical PM proteins very differently, using either a vectorial (direct) route or a transcytotic (indirect) route. Although these original observations have generally held up, recent studies have revealed interesting complexities in the routes taken by apically destined proteins and have extended our understanding of the machinery required to sustain these elaborate sorting pathways. Here, we critically review the current status of apical trafficking mechanisms and discuss a model in which clustering is required to recruit apical trafficking machineries. Uncovering the mechanisms responsible for polarized trafficking and their epithelial-specific variations will help understand how epithelial functional diversity is generated and the pathogenesis of many human diseases.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?