AUTHOR=De Meyer Thomas , Depicker Ann 

TITLE=Trafficking of endoplasmic reticulum-retained recombinant proteins is unpredictable in Arabidopsis thaliana

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2014.00473

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2014.00473

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>A wide variety of recombinant proteins has been produced in the dicot model plant, <italic>Arabidopsis thaliana</italic>. Many of these proteins are targeted for secretion by means of an N-terminal endoplasmic reticulum (ER) signal peptide. In addition, they can also be designed for ER retention by adding a C-terminal H/KDEL-tag. Despite extensive knowledge of the protein trafficking pathways, the final protein destination, especially of such H/KDEL-tagged recombinant proteins, is unpredictable. In this respect, glycoproteins are ideal study objects. Microscopy experiments reveal their deposition pattern and characterization of their N-glycans aids in elucidating the trafficking. Here, we combine microscopy and N-glycosylation data generated in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> leaves and seeds, and highlight the lack of a decent understanding of heterologous protein trafficking.</p>