Abstract

VAULT COMPLEX – WHAT IT HOLDS IN STORE?

Silpi Acharyya, *Manojit Chatterjee and Saikat Sarkar

Abstract

The vault complex which is the largest ribonucleoprotein particle, can be found in the eukaryotes-ranging from protozoa to mammals (excepting budding yeast, C. elegans, D. melanogaster and Arabidopsis). Vaults are mainly localized in cytosol (very small fraction within nucleus). Consisting of two eight petalled equal halves, each vault can exist in open or closed conformation and is composed of three proteins (MVP, VPARP, TEP-1) and an RNA (vRNA), which may be evolutionary conserved. This review focusses on detailed structural and functional aspects of this vault constituents, concentrating mainly on their role in nucleocytoplasmic transport, cellular homeostasis and development and multidrug resistance during chemotherapy.

Keywords: Vault, Major vault protein (MVP), Vault Poly ADP ribosyl polymerase (VPARP), Vault RNA (vRNA), Vaultosome, Vault nano-capsules.