Conserved Structural Motifs in Intracellular Trafficking Pathways. Structure of the gammaCOP Appendage Domain.
Hoffman, G.R., Rahl, P.B., Collins, R.N., Cerione, R.A.(2003) Mol Cell 12: 615-625
- PubMed: 14527408 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2003.08.002
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
1PZD - PubMed Abstract: 
The formation of coated vesicles is a fundamental step in many intracellular trafficking pathways. COPI and clathrin represent two important and distinct sets of vesicle coating machinery, involved primarily in mediating intra-Golgi and endocytic transport, respectively. Here we identify an important functional region at the carboxyl terminus of the gamma subunit of the COPI complex (gammaCOP) and describe the X-ray crystal structure of this domain at 2.3 A resolution. This domain of gammaCOP exhibits unexpected structural similarity to the carboxyl-terminal appendage domains of the alpha and beta subunits of the AP2 adaptor proteins, integral components of clathrin-coated vesicles. The remarkable structural conservation exhibited by the gammaCOP appendage domain, coupled with functional data and primary sequence analysis, supports a model of COPI function with significant structural and mechanistic parallels to vesicular transport by the clathrin/AP2 system.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Molecular Medicine, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.