Two birds with one stone: a novel motif for ACh receptor assembly quality control.
Assembly of ACh receptors is under tight quality control. Only functional ACh receptors are expressed on the cell surface; unassembled subunits are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In a recent elegant study, Wang and colleagues have identified a novel motif in the M1 domain of the ACh-receptor subunit that is responsible for ER retention and degradation of unassembled subunits. This signal appears to play an important role in regulating surface trafficking of functional ACh receptors.
Mei
Lin
L
Departments of Neurobiology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA. lmei@nrc.uab.edu
Xiong
Wen C
WC
D020816:Amino Acid Motifs / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D021122:Protein Subunits / Q000502:physiology*; D021381:Protein Transport / Q000502:physiology; D011786:Quality Control; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*
D021122:Protein Subunits; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic