title: Mechanisms of cell polarity: sorting and transport in epithelial cells.
abstract: The recent discovery of widely distributed targeting determinants, which govern the polarized cell-surface distribution of plasma membrane proteins in epithelial cells, has significantly changed our view of how polarized cells generate functionally distinct membrane domains. Together with the surprising finding that the same determinants are recognized on both the biosynthetic and the endocytic pathways, it now appears likely that a common epigenetic code may exist that controls molecular sorting of membrane proteins in a wide variety of polarized, and perhaps even non-polarized, cell types.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520-8002.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matter
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mellman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport / Q000502:physiology; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D011992:Endosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D004848:Epithelium / Q000378:metabolism; D006056:Golgi Apparatus / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D008565:Membrane Proteins