The past decade has witnessed unprecedented progress in elucidation of the complex problems of the biogenesis of peroxisomes and related human disorders, with further deepening of our understanding of the metabolic role of this ubiquitous cell organelle. There have been many recent reviews on biochemical and molecular biological aspects of peroxisomes, with the morphology and cytochemistry rece...

During their classic studies on the Separation of lysosomes by centrifugation of rat liver homogenates, De Duve and bis group (1) observed that certain oxidative enzymes, such äs Z)-amino acid oxidase and uric acid oxidase wbich produce hydrogen peroxide, and catalase which attacks hydrogen peroxide, were always found in a discrete fraction which could be separated from lysosomes and mitochondr...

Peroxisomes are a dynamic compartment in almost all eukaryotic cells and have diverse metabolic roles in response to environmental changes and cellular demands. The accompanying changes in enzyme content or abundance of peroxisomes are accomplished by dynamically operating membrane- and matrix-protein transport machineries. This review discusses recent progress in understanding peroxisomal prol...

Transmission electron micrographs of peroxisomes in diverse organisms, including plants, suggest their close association and even luminal connectivity with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). After several decades of debate de novo peroxisome biogenesis from the ER is strongly favored in yeasts and mammals. Unfortunately many of the proteins whose transit through the ER constitutes a major evidence...

Translocation of proteins across membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondrion, and chloroplast has been shown to be mediated by targeting signals present in the transported proteins. To test whether the transport of proteins into peroxisomes is also mediated by a peptide targeting signal, we have studied the firefly luciferase gene that encodes a protein transported to peroxisomes in b...

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) plays an important role in peroxisome biogenesis; some peroxisomal membrane proteins are inserted into the ER and trafficked to peroxisomes in vesicles. These vesicles could also provide the phospholipids required for the growth of peroxisomal membranes, because peroxisomes lack phospholipid biosynthesis enzymes. To test this, we established a novel assay to monit...

Native isocitrate lyase from castor bean and a C-terminally truncated variant were expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae under the control of a galactose-inducible promoter. Both forms of isocitrate lyase were targeted to the yeast peroxisomes. They co-fractionated with catalase on sucrose-density-gradient centrifugation of a post-nuclear supernatant prepared from cells grown on oleic acid plus...

yeast cells, similarly to cells of other eukaryotic organisms, possess intracellular organelles, including that of peroxisomes also known as microbodies . Enzymes of oxidative metabolism, mainly hydrogen peroxide generating oxidases, catalase, some enzymes of glyoxylic cycle and enzymes involved in catabolism of unusual carbon sources (n-alkanes, methanol) are located in peroxisomes. Especially...