title: A new function for the Elongator complex: polarization of Rab activity?
abstract: The Elongator complex was first identified through association with hyperphosphorylated forms of RNA polymerase II and was thought to have a role in transcriptional elongation in yeast. In this issue of Molecular Cell, Rahl et al. suggest a novel function for this complex: regulating polarized cell-surface transport. Defects in the human form of this complex result in a neurodegenerative disease, familial dysautomia (FD), suggesting that a deficiency in neuronal polarized trafficking is the underlying cause of FD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell & Developmental Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brennwald
mesh_terms: D001692:Biological Transport / Q000502:physiology; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016764:Cell Polarity; D004402:Dysautonomia, Familial / Q000378:metabolism; D051548:Histone Acetyltransferases; D006801:Humans; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D010445:Peptide Elongation Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D035602:Transcriptional Elongation Factors; D020691:rab GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; C114720:Elp1 protein, human; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D010445:Peptide Elongation Factors; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D035602:Transcriptional Elongation Factors; D051548:Histone Acetyltransferases; C479559:IKI3 protein, S cerevisiae; D020691:rab GTP-Binding Proteins