A paralog-specific role of the COPI pathway in the neuronal differentiation of murine pluripotent cells

Abstract

Coat protein complex I (COPI)-coated vesicles mediate membrane trafficking between Golgi cisternae as well as retrieval of proteins from the Golgi to the endoplasmic reticulum. There are several flavors of the COPI coat defined by paralogous subunits of the protein complex coatomer. However, whether paralogous COPI proteins have specific functions is currently unknown. Here we show that the paralogous coatomer subunits {gamma}1-COP and {gamma}2-COP are differentially expressed during the neuronal differentiation of mouse pluripotent cells. Moreover, through a combination of genome editing experiments, we demonstrate that whereas {gamma}-COP paralogs are largely functionally redundant, {gamma}1-COP specifically promotes neurite outgrowth. Our work stresses a role of the COPI pathway in neuronal polarization and provides evidence for distinct functions for coatomer paralogous subunits in this process.