Vacuolar Protein Sorting 11 (VPS11)

Vesicle mediated protein sorting plays an important role in segregation of intracellular molecules into distinct organelles. Genetic studies in yeast have identified more than 40 vacuolar protein sorting (VPS) genes involved in vesicle transport to vacuoles. The mammalian class C Vps proteins are predominantly associated with late endosomes/lysosomes, and like their yeast counterparts, may mediate vesicle trafficking steps in the endosome/lysosome pathway.The deduced 941-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 107.8 kD. VPS11 contains a clathrin repeat domain and a RING-H2 finger domain, and it is likely a cytosolic protein. VPS11 shares 24% amino acid identity with yeast Vps11. ESTs sharing significant identity were also identified in rat, bovine, chicken, and frog databases.