ARRDC1 as a mediator of microvesicle budding

Abstract

Eukaryotic cells critically depend on the formation, budding, and scission of membrane-bounded vesicles for many key processes: internalization of cell surface receptors, delivery of cargo proteins to multivesicular bodies (MVBs) and lysosomes for degradation, transport of newly synthesized proteins between intracellular organelles and their delivery to the plasma membrane, and release of microvesicles that function as vehicles for intercellular communication. Although distinct families of proteins and multiprotein complexes have been described that mediate these diverse events in the cell, the field of membrane trafficking remains an active area of investigation. In PNAS, the work by Nabhan et al. (1) describes a role for the arrestin domain-containing protein ARRDC1 in the generation of microvesicles—termed ARRDC1-mediated microvesicles (ARMMs)—that bud directly from the plasma membrane (PM).