Coaxing the LDL receptor family into the fold

Low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) receptor family members control diverse developmental and physiological pathways. In this issue of Cell, both Culi and Mann and Hsieh et al. report on Boca/MESD, a highly conserved chaperone required for transport of LDLR family proteins to the cell surface. Together with recent insights into the atomic structure of the LDL receptor, they shed new light on the synthesis and trafficking of this important class of multifunctional receptors.