Research Area
The research interest of Mei lab focuses on the molecular mechanism underlying the regulation of vesicle trafficking. Vesicle trafficking is a fundamental cellular process by which membrane-encapsulated vesicles, including synaptic vesicles, transport materials between different cellular compartments and between a cell and its environment. Malfunction of vesicle trafficking will cause a broad spectrum of severe diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, immune deficiency and neuropathy. Vesicle trafficking occurs in four steps including vesicle biogenesis, transport, docking and fusion with the target membrane, each of which is mediated by a specific concert of protein families. Membrane fusion is mediated by the SNAREs and docking is manly mediated by the MTCs (Multi-subunit tethering complexes). MTCs are conserved in eukaryotes and different MTCs are involved in different stages of the secretory and endocytic pathway. MTCs not only mediate vesicle docking via tethering the trafficking vesicles to the target membrane, but also interact with the SNAREs to promote membrane fusion between them (Figure 1). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these cellular processes are largely unknown.