Functional Analysis Of SNARE Complex Mediating The Fusion Between Vacuoles And PVCs In Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

While it is getting a consensus of plant scientists that the endocytic pathway plays very important roles in various plant functions of higher order, the knowledge on the molecular mechanism of endocytosis in plant cells is still very limited. We are studying this problem with a special focus on an R-SNARE, VAMP727. In previous studies, VAMP727 was localized almost exclusively on the Rab5-positive endosomes in protoplasts (Ueda et al.,2004; Uemura et al., 2004), which strongly suggested that VAMP727 is committed in the membrane fusion of endosomes. To reveal functions of this molecule more precisely, we examined genetic interaction between VAMP727 and another endocytic SNARE, VAM3. In this meeting, we will report our results indicating that VAMP727 and VAM3 are components of an essential SNARE complex, which mediates fusion between vacuoles and PVCs.