Actin and its role in cargo sorting
The Golgi Apparatus is the cellular organelle responsible for sorting and transport of proteins. Proteins arriving into the Golgi from the endoplasmic rerticulum  are sorted and packed into transport carriers which are then sent to other organelles of the cells, the cell surface, and for secretion. This is a prerequisite for cell function, growth and division. The work of Julia Von Blume from the Intracellular Compartmentation Laboratory of the CRG, published in the Journal Cell Biology, shows that Actin, which is a cytoskeleton protein, has an important role in protein sorting at the Golgi. The authors postulate that Actin assembles a domain at the Golgi, which sequesters receptors that directly bind and sort secretory proteins. A defect in the size of actin based domains results in missorting. The finding of Von Blume at the laboratory of Vivek Malhotra presents a new role for Actin in sorting and cell transport.