Homologs or Analogs?

The two tail anchored proteins PEX15 (in yeast) and PEX26 (in mammalia) pose an interesting riddle: From far, they look similar, they do similar things, but they are different enough to be given different names. In this project, MD student Judith Büntzel with help from Fabio Villardi, have studied the targeting of PEX15 and PEX26 in yeast and HeLa cells. The study exposes the complex decisions of the tail-anchored proteins, to use the targeting machinery at the endoplasmic reticulum or to directly integrate into the peroxisome membrane. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26627908/