The role of vesicles in cargo transport through the Golgi apparatus has been controversial. Large forms of cargo such as protein aggregates are thought to progress through the Golgi stack by a process of cisternal maturation, balanced by a return flow of Golgi resident proteins in COPI-coated vesicles. However, whether this is the primary role of vesicles, or whether they also serve to transport small cargo molecules in a forward direction has been debated. Two papers (Martínez-Menárguez et al., 2001; Mironov et al., 2001, this issue) use sophisticated light and electron microscopy to provide evidence that the vesicular stomatitis virus membrane glycoprotein (VSV G)*
Abbreviation used in this paper: VSV G, vesicular stomatitis virus membrane glycoprotein.
