Sorting of Golgi resident proteins into different subpopulations of COPI vesicles

Abstract

We present evidence for two subpopulations of coatomer protein I vesicles, both containing high amounts of Golgi resident proteins but only minor amounts of anterograde cargo. Early Golgi proteins p24α₂, β₁, δ₁, and γ₃ are shown to be sorted together into vesicles that are distinct from those containing mannosidase II, a glycosidase of the medial Golgi stack, and GS28, a SNARE protein of the Golgi stack. Sorting into each vesicle population is Arf-1 and GTP hydrolysis dependent and is inhibited by aluminum and beryllium fluoride. Using synthetic peptides, we find that the cytoplasmic domain of p24β₁ can bind Arf GTPase-activating protein (GAP)1 and cause direct inhibition of ArfGAP1-mediated GTP hydrolysis on Arf-1 bound to liposomes and Golgi membranes. We propose a two-stage reaction to explain how GTP hydrolysis constitutes a prerequisite for sorting of resident proteins, yet becomes inhibited in their presence.