Structural basis for interorganelle phospholipid transport mediated by VAT-1.

Yasunori Watanabe, Yasushi Tamura, Chika Kakuta, Seiya Watanabe, Toshiya Endo

The Journal of biological chemistry 2020 Mar 06

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Eukaryotic cells are compartmentalized to form organelles, whose functions rely on proper phospholipid and protein transport. Here we determined the crystal structure of human VAT-1, a cytosolic soluble protein that was suggested to transfer phosphatidylserine, at 2.2 Å resolution. We found that VAT-1 transferred not only phosphatidylserine but also other acidic phospholipids between membranes in vitro Structure-based mutational analyses showed the presence of a possible lipid-binding cavity at the interface between the two subdomains, and two tyrosine residues in the flexible loops facilitated phospholipid transfer, likely by functioning as a gate to this lipid-binding cavity. We also found that a basic and hydrophobic loop with two tryptophan residues protruded from the molecule and facilitated binding to the acidic-lipid membranes, thereby achieving efficient phospholipid transfer. © 2020 Watanabe et al.

Citation

Yasunori Watanabe, Yasushi Tamura, Chika Kakuta, Seiya Watanabe, Toshiya Endo. Structural basis for interorganelle phospholipid transport mediated by VAT-1. The Journal of biological chemistry. 2020 Mar 06;295(10):3257-3268