Genes that control the fidelity of endoplasmic reticulum to Golgi transport identified as suppressors of vesicle budding mutations

Although convergent evidence suggests that proteins destined for export from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are separated from resident ER proteins and are concentrated into transport vesicles, the proteins that regulate this process have remained largely unknown. In a screen for suppressors of mutations in the essential COPII gene SEC13, we identified three genes (BST1, BST2/EMP24, and BST3) that negatively regulate COPII vesicle formation, preventing the production of vesicles with defective or missing subunits. Mutations in these genes slow the secretion of some secretory proteins and cause the resident ER proteins Kar2p and Pdi1p to leak more rapidly from the ER, indicating that these genes are also required for proper discrimination between resident ER proteins and Golgi-bound cargo molecules. The BST1 and BST2/EMP24 genes code for integral membrane proteins that reside predominantly in the ER. Our data suggest that the BST gene products represent a novel class of ER proteins that link the regulation of vesicle coat assembly to cargo sorting.