SEC18/NSF-independent, protein-sorting pathway from the yeast cortical ER to the plasma membrane

Classic studies of temperature-sensitive secretory (sec) mutants have demonstrated that secreted and plasma membrane proteins follow a common SEC pathway via the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), Golgi apparatus, and secretory vesicles to the cell periphery. The yeast protein Ist2p, which is synthesized from a localized mRNA, travels from the ER to the plasma membrane via a novel route that operates independently of the formation of coat protein complex II-coated vesicles. In this study, we show that the COOH-terminal domain of Ist2p is necessary and sufficient to mediate SEC18 independent sorting when it is positioned at the COOH terminus of different integral membrane proteins and exposed to the cytoplasm. This domain functions as a dominant plasma membrane localization determinant that overrides other protein sorting signals. Based on these observations, we suggest a local synthesis of Ist2p at cortical ER sites, from where the protein is sorted by a novel mechanism to the plasma membrane.