Grant: Project Grant

Our body is built from smaller units called cells. These cells perform different functions and work together, making our existence possible. Strikingly, cells are further divided into smaller compartments, called organelles, that perform specific roles, ensuring cell survival. These organelles and cells are separated by lipidic (fat) membranes. In addition to lipids, these membranes are filled with a wide array of proteins. Proteins represent the workhorses of the cells, and they mediate most of the function by transporting sugars or nutrients inside the cells, signaling various types of information (growth promotion or infection), and allowing cells to attach to their neighbors or to migrate to a specific site. Given these examples, it is clear that these proteins must be very precisely located at the proper membranes of a cell. This targeting (or sorting) is achieved again by molecular machines that recognize specific determinants of a protein that allows a sorting decision to be made and 'routs' the transmembrane proteins at the appropriate cellular membrane or organelles. Importantly, defects in 'routing machines' translate into various neurological diseases in humans, and cancer cells can also take over this machinery to promote their dissemination. In this proposal, we will characterize how a new regulator of membrane sorting affects the recruitment and activity of the machinery directly involved in identifying and classifying cargos for sorting at specific localization. Importantly, we will define how this new regulator works molecularly and test its role in various cellular contexts. Given the essential requirement of the membrane targeting machinery, the identification and molecular characterization of a new regulator might open novel avenues for therapeutic intervention in humans.