title: VAMP8/endobrevin is a critical factor for the homotypic granule growth in pancreatic acinar cells.
abstract: The delivery of newly-formed secretory content to the granule inventory occurs through direct fusion of recently formed granules and mature granules. The introduction of knockout mice allowed us to investigate the characteristics of the delivery process and to determine the core protein machinery required for granule growth. The SNARE machinery mediates membrane fusion and is essential for the granule lifecycle. In the current work, we use VAMP8 knockout mice to show that the SNARE machinery plays a critical role in the process of granule homotypic fusion. Consistent with this, the mutated mouse pancreatic acinar secretory granules are significantly smaller compared to the control group, demonstrating few granule profiles that might be the result of homotypic fusion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. ilanh@patholog.tau.ac.il
authors.forename: Ilan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hammel
authors.forename: Cheng-Chun
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wanjin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Amihai
mesh_terms: D061354:Acinar Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000818:Animals; D008561:Membrane Fusion; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D046790:Pancreas, Exocrine / Q000166:cytology*; D050683:R-SNARE Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D022142:Secretory Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D050683:R-SNARE Proteins; C491831:Vamp8 protein, mouse