Chaperoning SNARE assembly and disassembly. Author Richard Baker, Frederick Hughson Publication Year 2016 Type Journal Article Abstract Intracellular membrane fusion is mediated in most cases by membrane-bridging complexes of soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNAREs). However, the assembly of such complexes in vitro is inefficient, and their uncatalysed disassembly is undetectably slow. Here, we focus on the cellular machinery that orchestrates assembly and disassembly of SNARE complexes, thereby regulating processes ranging from vesicle trafficking to organelle fusion to neurotransmitter release. Rapid progress is being made on many fronts, including the development of more realistic cell-free reconstitutions, the application of single-molecule biophysics, and the elucidation of X-ray and high-resolution electron microscopy structures of the SNARE assembly and disassembly machineries 'in action'. Keywords Animals, Humans, SNARE Proteins, Molecular Chaperones Journal Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol Volume 17 Issue 8 Pages 465-79 Date Published 2016 Aug ISSN Number 1471-0080 DOI 10.1038/nrm.2016.65 Alternate Journal Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol PMCID PMC5471617 PMID 27301672 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML