Abstract
Carbohydrate-binding galectins are expressed in various tissues of multicellular organisms. They are involved in autophagy, cell migration, immune response, inflammation, intracellular transport, and signaling. In recent years, novel roles of galectin-interaction with membrane components have been characterized, which lead to the formation of vesicles with diverse functions. These vesicles are part of intracellular transport pathways, belong to the cellular degradation machinery, or can be released for cell-to-cell communication. Several characteristics of galectins in the lumen or at the membrane of newly formed vesicular structures are discussed in this review and illustrate the need to fully elucidate their contributions at the molecular and structural level.
Highlights
Vesicle-mediated traffic and communication is crucial for all tissue and organ function
Data from this study indicated that other galectins may be found on endocytosed damaged vesicles
The inherent ability of galectins to leave the cytosol as their place of synthesis and enter the lumen of vesicular organelles is vital to ensure cell protection against lysosomal damage, subcellular cargo sorting and galectin-release for cell-to-cell communication at the organismal level
Summary
Vesicle-mediated traffic and communication is crucial for all tissue and organ function These membrane-covered transport containers can passage cargo between intracellular compartments and between cells or tissues if released into the extracellular milieu. Glycans are prominent examples for protein modifications that direct glycoproteins into lysosomal organelles [3], to the apical membrane domain of polarized epithelial cells [4,5,6] or that target unsalvageable glycoproteins for endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation [7]. These glycan-dependent sorting steps are mediated by sugar-binding lectins, which bind, tag or cluster glycosylated target molecules for further processing
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