Vps1, a Novel Recycling Factor For the Traffic of Early Endosome to Late Golgi

Recycling of cellular membranes and their constituents plays a role for cell survival and growth. In the budding yeast, there are recycling traffics from early and late endosomal compartments to the late Golgi. Here, I examined a possible role for Vps1, a large GTPase, in the recycling traffic of GFP-Snc1 from early endosomes to the late Golgi. In the absence of Vps1, I observed an aberrant accumulation of GFP-Snc1 puncta in the cytoplasm that I identified as early endosomes. The N-terminal GTPase and the C-terminal GED domains of Vps1 are essential for Vps1\u27s function in Snc1 recycling. Our finding of genetic interactions of VPS1 with genes involved in early endosome-to-Golgi traffic further suggests Vps1 functions as a recycling factor in the membrane traffic. Finally, I provide evidence that the severe accumulation of GFP-Snc1 cytoplasmic puncta in vps1∆ cells is attributed to a mild defect in the retention of the GARP component Vps51 at the late Golgi, as well as a severe disruption of actin cables