Porosome: the secretory portal in cells #MMPMID19364126
Jena BP
Biochemistry 2009[May]; 48 (19): 4009-18 PMID19364126show ga
Porosomes are supramolecular, cup-shaped lipoprotein structures at the cell plasma membrane, where membrane-bound secretory vesicles dock and fuse to release intravesicular contents to the outside during cell secretion. The porosome openings to the outside ranges from 150 nm in diameter in acinar cells of the exocrine pancreas to 12 nm in neurons. In the past decade the composition of the porosome, its structure and dynamics at nm resolution in real time, and its functional reconstitution into artificial lipid membrane, have been demonstrated. Discovery of the universal secretory machinery in cells ?the porosome, came as no surprise since porosome-like ?canaliculi? structures for secretion from human platelets, the secretory machinery in single-cell organisms like the secretion apparatus in bacteria and Toxoplasma gondii, and the contractile vacuole in paramecium, have been demonstrated. In this review, the discovery of the porosome complex and the molecular mechanism of its function, and how this information provides a new understanding of cell secretion are discussed.
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Biochemistry 2009 ; 48 (19): 4009-18
