Host: The Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists
Pages 0126
SNARE molecules are key regulators of vesicular traffic, executing membrane fusion between transport vesicles or organelles and target membranes. These molecules are classified into four main types (Qa, Qb, Qc and R) based on the structural property of their coiled-coil region, called SNARE motif. One of major plant R-SNARE families, VAMP7, consists of two subgroups, VAMP71 and VAMP72. In seed plants, structurally distinct VAMP72 molecules harboring an acidic cluster comprising about 20 amino acids in the longin domain are also conserved. We previously reported that this type of VAMP72 molecule in Arabidopsis thaliana, VAMP727, is involved in membrane trafficking around endosomes. To clarify the functional relevance of the acidic cluster, we investigated the effects of deletion and artificial insertion of the acidic cluster. Our results indicated that the acidic cluster played a critical role for functional conversion of VAMP72 members during plant evolution.
