Speaker Professor Frances Brodsky, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, UCL

Title Clathrin EDI: Evolution, diversity and interactions regulating membrane traffic

Host Jody Rosenblatt

 

Abstract Clathrin-coated vesicles selectively capture proteins for transport between membranes. This intracellular membrane traffic enables cells to communicate with their environment by regulation of plasma membrane protein composition and to create intracellular organelles that are specialized for tissue-specific functions. We are studying the biochemical and evolutionary mechanisms that drive clathrin specialization. In human muscle, gene duplication and diet-driven selection has produced a second clathrin isoform that traffics the GLUT4 glucose transporter to a holding compartment from which it can be mobilized to the plasma membrane in response to insulin. Convergent evolution in mice has modified clathrin by alternative splicing to function in a paralogous pathway through a related biochemical mechanism. The implications for models of Type 2 diabetes and for diversification of membrane traffic pathways will be discussed.