Endoplasmic Reticulum Golgi Intermediate Compartment Protein 3 (ERGIC3)

ERGIC3 encodes a cycling membrane protein which is an endoplasmic reticulum-golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) protein which interacts with other members of this protein family to increase their turnover. ERGIC-32 is a novel cycling membrane protein with sequence homology to Erv41p and Erv46p, two proteins enriched in COPII vesicles of yeast. ERGIC-32 localizes to the ERGIC and partially colocalizes with the human homologs of Erv41p and Erv46p, which mainly localize to the cis-Golgi. ERGIC-32 interacts with human Erv46 (hErv46) as revealed by covalent cross-linking and mistargeting experiments, and silencing of ERGIC-32 by small interfering RNAs increases the turnover of hErv46. ERGIC-32 functions as a modulator of the hErv41-hErv46 complex by stabilizing hErv46.