Sphingolipid Metabolism at the ER-Golgi Contact Zone and Its Impact on Membrane Trafficking

Abstract

Proteins and lipids represent the two major constituents of biological membranes. Different organelles have different lipid compositions, which may be crucial for the execution and control of various organelle-specific functions. The interorganellar transport of lipids is dominated by mechanisms that are distinct from the vesicular mechanisms that underlie the interorganellar transport of proteins. Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) efficiently and accurately mediate the trafficking of membrane lipids at the interfaces between different organelles. In this review, which focuses on sphingolipids, we describe the coordinated synthesis and transfer of lipids that occur at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi apparatus contact zones and discuss the impacts of lipid metabolism on membrane trafficking from the trans-Golgi network (TGN).