Title:Understanding Plastid Vesicle Transport – Could it Provide Benefit for Human Medicine?
Volume: 17
Issue: 13
Author(s): Nadir Zaman Khan, Emelie Lindquist, Mohamed Alezzawi and Henrik Aronsson*
Affiliation:
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, 405 30 Gothenburg,Sweden
Keywords:
Chloroplast, disease, human, Rab, Sar, transport, vesicle.
Abstract: Background: In plants, vesicle transport occurs in the secretory pathway in the cytosol, between
the membranes of different compartments. Several protein components have been identified to
be involved in the process and their functions were characterized. Both cargos and other molecules
(such as hormones) have been shown to use vesicle transport, although the major constituents of vesicles
are lipids which are transferred from donor to acceptor membranes. In humans, malfunction of the
cytosolic vesicle transport system leads to different diseases.
Method: To better understand and ultimately cure these human diseases, studying other model systems
such as yeast can be beneficial. Plants with their cytosolic vesicle transport system could serve as another
model system. However, this review focuses on plant vesicles not present in the cytosol but in
the chloroplasts, where lipids produced in the surrounding envelope are transported through the aqueous
stroma to the thylakoid membranes. Although chloroplast vesicles have found both biochemical
and ultrastructural support, only two proteins have been characterized as components of the pathway.
However, using bioinformatics a number of other proteins have been suggested as homologs to the cytosolic
system.
Results & Conclusion: Based on these findings vesicles of chloroplasts are likely most similar to the
vesicles trafficking from ER to Golgi, or may even be unique, but important experimental support is
yet lacking. In this review, proposed vesicle transport components in chloroplasts are presented, and
their possible future implementation for human medicine is discussed.
