A family of membrane-shaping proteins at ER subdomains regulates pre-peroxisomal vesicle biogenesis

Joshi et al. show that Pex30p and Pex31p contain reticulon-like ER tubulating domains. Like reticulons, they localize to the edges of ER sheets and tubules but are only present in subdomains. These subdomains are devoid of reticulons and are the sites of pre-peroxisome vesicle biogenesis.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains three conserved reticulon and reticulon-like proteins that help maintain ER structure by stabilizing high membrane curvature in ER tubules and the edges of ER sheets. A mutant lacking all three proteins has dramatically altered ER morphology. We found that ER shape is restored in this mutant when Pex30p or its homologue Pex31p is overexpressed. Pex30p can tubulate membranes both in cells and when reconstituted into proteoliposomes, indicating that Pex30p is a novel ER-shaping protein. In contrast to the reticulons, Pex30p is low abundance, and we found that it localizes to subdomains in the ER. We show that these ER subdomains are the sites where most preperoxisomal vesicles (PPVs) are generated. In addition, overproduction or deletion of Pex30p or Pex31p alters the size, shape, and number of PPVs. Our findings suggest that Pex30p and Pex31p help shape and generate regions of the ER where PPV biogenesis occurs.