Yeast and mammals utilize similar cytosolic components to drive protein transport through the Golgi complex.

Vesicular transport between successive compartments of the mammalian Golgi apparatus has recently been reconstituted in a cell-free system. In addition to ATP, transport requires both membrane-bound and cytosolic proteins. Here we report that the cytosol fraction from yeast will efficiently substitute for mammalian cytosol. Mammalian cytosol contains several distinct transport factors, which we have distinguished on the basis of gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography. Yeast cytosol appears to contain the same collection of transport factors. Resolved cytosol factors from yeast and mammals complement each other in a synergistic manner. These findings suggest that the molecular mechanisms of intracellular protein transport have been conserved throughout evolution. Moreover, this hybrid cell-free system will enable the application of yeast genetics to the identification and isolation of cytosolic proteins that sustain intracellular protein transport.