Cell 134, 148–161 (2008)

A protein called WHAMM helps shuttle other proteins between compartments in mammalian cells by interacting with two components of the cell skeleton, researchers have found.

Matthew Welch, Kenneth Campellone and their colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, found that WHAMM mediates the transport of proteins between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. The researchers mapped distinct regions of the protein that interact with the membranes of the Golgi, and with two constituents of the cell's internal skeleton: actin and microtubules.

Both raising and lowering the amount of WHAMM in human cells disrupted the Golgi's structure and interfered with the transport of a viral protein from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi.