TY - JOUR
T1 - Pigment Cells
T2 - A Model for the Study of Organelle Transport
AU - Nascimento, Alexandra A.
AU - Roland, Joseph T.
AU - Gelfand, Vladimir I.
PY - 2003
Y1 - 2003
N2 - Eukaryotic organisms rely on intracellular transport to position organelles and other components within their cells. Pigment cells provide an excellent model to study organelle transport as they specialize in the translocation of pigment granules in response to denned chemical signals. Pigment cells of lower vertebrates have traditionally been used as a model for these studies because these cells transport pigment organelles in a highly coordinated fashion, are easily cultured and transfected, are ideal for microsurgery, and are good for biochemical experiments, including in vitro analysis of organelle motility. Many important properties of organelle transport, for example, the requirement of two cytoskeletal filaments (actin and microtubules), the motor proteins involved, and the mechanisms of their regulation and interactions, have been studied using pigment cells of lower vertebrates. Genetic studies of mouse melanocytes allowed the discovery of essential elements involved in organelle transport including the myosin-Va motor and its receptor and adaptor molecules on the organelle surface. Future studies of pigment cells will contribute to our understanding of issues such as the cooperation among multiple motor proteins and the mechanisms of regulation of microtubule motors.
AB - Eukaryotic organisms rely on intracellular transport to position organelles and other components within their cells. Pigment cells provide an excellent model to study organelle transport as they specialize in the translocation of pigment granules in response to denned chemical signals. Pigment cells of lower vertebrates have traditionally been used as a model for these studies because these cells transport pigment organelles in a highly coordinated fashion, are easily cultured and transfected, are ideal for microsurgery, and are good for biochemical experiments, including in vitro analysis of organelle motility. Many important properties of organelle transport, for example, the requirement of two cytoskeletal filaments (actin and microtubules), the motor proteins involved, and the mechanisms of their regulation and interactions, have been studied using pigment cells of lower vertebrates. Genetic studies of mouse melanocytes allowed the discovery of essential elements involved in organelle transport including the myosin-Va motor and its receptor and adaptor molecules on the organelle surface. Future studies of pigment cells will contribute to our understanding of issues such as the cooperation among multiple motor proteins and the mechanisms of regulation of microtubule motors.
KW - Actin
KW - Dynein
KW - Kinesin
KW - Microtubule
KW - Myosin-V
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U2 - 10.1146/annurev.cellbio.19.111401.092937
DO - 10.1146/annurev.cellbio.19.111401.092937
M3 - Article
C2 - 14570578
AN - SCOPUS:0344393064
SN - 1081-0706
VL - 19
SP - 469
EP - 491
JO - Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology
JF - Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology
ER -