Seminar - Professor Dialloinas from the University of Athens; Title: "Biogenesis of transporters in fungi by unconventional membrane trafficking"
| Dates: | 2 September 2024 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Current University students |
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Christos Pliotas from the Division of Molecular and Cellular Function, SBS will be hosting a special seminar delivered by Professor Dialloinas from the University of Athens in the Michael Smith Lecture Theatre.
Title: "Biogenesis of transporters in fungi by unconventional membrane trafficking"
Abstract: Membrane proteins are thought to be sorted to the plasma membrane (PM) via Golgi-dependent trafficking. However, our recent studies in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans challenged the essentiality of Golgi and conventional secretion in the biogenesis of transporters and other non-polarly localized proteins. In my talk I will mostly present the development of a novel genetic system for synchronously co-expressing and following the de novo localization of the UapA, an extensively studied purine transporter, versus conventional apical membrane proteins, such as the R-SNARE SynA of chitin synthase ChsB. Using this system, we obtained unequivocal evidence for the existence of distinct cargo trafficking routes for non-polar versus polar plasma membrane cargoes, initiating at early secretory compartments. Most interestingly, we also obtained evidence that translocation of UapA to the PM seems to necessitate non-canonical SNARE interactions and is also exocyst-independent. Overall, our recent work provides strong evidence that transporters and other non-polar PM proteins follow an unconventional trafficking route in fungi, which might also have mechanistic and physiological analogies to other polarized eukaryotic cells of higher organisms. Finally, I will also present our recent high-resolution cryo-EM analysis of UapA which rationalizes the dual role of the cytosolic N-tail of UapA in trafficking and transporter dynamics.
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Michael Smith Lecture Theatre
