FGF21 trafficking in intact human cells revealed by cryo-electron tomography with gold nanoparticles

Azubel, M., Carter, S. D. , Weiszmann, J., Zhang, J., Jensen, G. J., Li, Y. and Kornberh, R. D. (2019) FGF21 trafficking in intact human cells revealed by cryo-electron tomography with gold nanoparticles. eLife, 8, e43146. (doi: 10.7554/eLife.43146) (PMID:30688648) (PMCID:PMC6349402)

Abstract

The fibroblast growth factor FGF21 was labeled with molecularly defined gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), applied to human adipocytes, and imaged by cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET). Most AuNPs were in pairs about 80 Å apart, on the outer cell surface. Pairs of AuNPs were also abundant inside the cells in clathrin-coated vesicles and endosomes. AuNPs were present but no longer paired in multivesicular bodies. FGF21 could thus be tracked along the endocytotic pathway. The methods developed here to visualize signaling coupled to endocytosis can be applied to a wide variety of cargo and may be extended to studies of other intracellular transactions.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding; National Institutes of Health AI 21144 to Roger D Kornberg and R35 122588 to Grant J Jensen.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Carter, Dr Stephen

Creator Roles

Carter, S. D.: Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Azubel, M., Carter, S. D., Weiszmann, J., Zhang, J., Jensen, G. J., Li, Y., and Kornberh, R. D.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity > Centre for Virus Research
• Journal Name: eLife
• Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications
• ISSN: 2050-084X
• ISSN (Online): 2050-084X
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 Azubel et al.
• First Published: First published in eLife 8: e43146
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License