BFA sends proteins back

Observing a step backward brought Jon Yewdell a big step forward in understanding protein trafficking pathways in the cell. As a newly minted assistant professor at the Wistar Institute, Yewdell was examining where in the cell the influenza A virus (IAV) hemagglutin (HA) trimerized. Using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for monomers or trimers, he had found by 1985 that monomers localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), whereas trimers were first detected in the Golgi complex without a trace of ER staining (Yewdell et al., 1988). And there the trimers might have stayed except for a chance conversation.

Hearing Yewdell's seminar at Case Western Reserve University, Alan Tartakoff urged him to read Akira Takatsuki's paper showing that the drug Brefeldin A (BFA) blocked transport from the ER (Misumi et al.,...