Peroxisomal protein import

In the cytosol, receptor proteins, PEX5 and PEX7, bind to specific sequence motifs in cargo proteins. The long and short isoforms of PEX5 (PEX5L and PEX5S) bind peroxisome targeting sequence 1 (PTS1, originally identified in firefly luciferase by Gould et al. 1989) found on most peroxisomal matrix proteins; PEX7 binds PTS2 (originally identified in rat 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase by Swinkels et al. 1991) found on 3 imported proteins thus far in humans. The long isoform of PEX5, PEX5L, then binds the PEX7:cargo protein complex. PEX5S,L bound to a cargo protein or PEX5L bound to PEX7:cargo protein then interacts with a complex comprising PEX13, PEX14, PEX2, PEX10, and PEX12 at the peroxisomal membrane (Gould et al. 1996, Fransen et al. 1998, inferred from rat homologs in Reguenga et al. 2001).

The ensuing step in which the cargo protein is translocated across the membrane is not completely understood. During translocation, PEX5 and PEX7 become inserted into the membrane and expose a portion of their polypeptide chains to the organellar matrix. One current model envisages PEX5 as a plunger that inserts into a transmembrane barrel formed by PEX14, PEX13, PEX2, PEX10, and PEX12 (the Docking-Translocation Module).

After delivering cargo to the matrix, PEX5 and PEX7 are recycled back to the cytosol by a process requiring mono-ubiquitination of PEX5 and ATP hydrolysis. PEX7 is not ubiquitinated but its recycling requires PEX5 mono-ubiquitination. A subcomplex of the Docking-Translocation Module comprising the RING-finger proteins PEX2, PEX10, and PEX12 conjugates a single ubiquitin to a cysteine residue of PEX5 (Carvalho et al. 2007, reviewed in Platta et al. 2016). The mono-ubiquitinated PEX5 and associated PEX7 are then extracted by the exportomer complex consisting of PEX1, PEX6, PEX26, and ZFAND6 (inferred from rat homologs in Miyata et al. 2012). PEX1 and PEX6 are members of the ATPases Associated with diverse cellular Activities (AAA) family, a group of proteins that use the energy of ATP hydrolysis to remodel molecular complexes. PEX1 and PEX6 form a hetero-hexameric ring, best described as a trimer of PEX1/PEX6 dimers (inferred from yeast in Platta et al. 2005, yeast homologs reviewed in Schwerter et al. 2017). Data on the yeast PEX1:PEX6 complex suggest that these ATPases use a substrate-threading mechanism to disrupt protein-protein interactions. PEX7 is also then returned to the cytosol. Once in the cytosol, ubiquitinated PEX5 is enzymatically deubiquitinated by USP9X and may also be non-enzymatically deubiquitinated by nucleophilic attack of the thioester bond between ubiquitin and the cysteine residue of PEX5 by small metabolites such as glutathione.

Defects in peroxisomal import cause human diseases: Zellweger syndrome, neonatal adrenoleukodystrophy, infantile Refsum disease and rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata types 1 and 5 (Barøy et al. 2015, reviewed in Nagotu et al. 2012, Braverman et al. 2013, Wanders 2014, Fujiki 2016, Waterham et al. 2016).