Investigation of Peroxisome Biogenesis Revealed Possible New Roles for Autophagy Components

Precursor aminopeptidase I oligomerizes in the cytosol and is imported into the vacuole as a dodecamer via the cytoplasm-to-vacuole targeting (Cvt) pathway or autophagy. However, this is not the only example for the import of oligomeric protein complexes into an organelle. During peroxisome biogenesis folded and oligomeric proteins can be imported into the lumen of the organelle. The mechanism of this transport is still unknown. In this article, we point out mechanistic parallels between peroxisome biogenesis and the Cvt pathway or autophagy. Furthermore, we summarize our recently published investigation on a possible overlap between these pathways. Our investigation revealed new insights into autophagy and the Cvt pathway and possible new functions of Cvt4p, Cvt8p and Atg14p in organelle biogenesis or stability.

Addendum to:

Topogenesis of peroxisomal proteins does not require a functional cytoplasm-to-vacuole transport

Ines Heiland and Ralph Erdmann

Eur J Cell Biol 2005; 84:799-807