What I learned today...intracellular vesicular traffic

Today's cell biology class was very interesting to say the least. It entailed protein shuttling via vesicular transport. In short, this is pretty much the packaging of proteins (cargo) into little round spherical balls (transport vesicles) that go from one compartment of the cell to another. Proteins can be transported in three different way within the cell. They include: gated transport, transmembrane transport and vesicular transport. Vesicular transport looked easy at first glance but it involves many complexities. They mainly arise from the mechanisms involved in creating the vesicle. In this type of transport we see "vesicles"bud off from donor membrane to recipient membranes. These vesicles come in three different forms: small vesicles, large vesicles and tubular vesicles. Each one being very specialized in what route it takes to get to its destination. This specificity comes from the transport vesicles highly specific coated region. This coat is assembled from the donor membrane and also collects specific membrane soluble cargo molecules for transport.  The coats that are assembled in these transport vesicles are variable. 

The three most recognized though are: COP1, COP2 and the clathrin coat. Each have a specific transport route. The clathrin coat was the first and best understood coat. This coat directs its transport vesicle from the plasma membrane and the trans golgi network. Adaptor proteins play another major role in the formation of the clathrin coat. They form a 2nd layer coat the lie between the membrane and the clathrin protein. 

First Blog

Hey everyone! After putting much thought into it, I've decided to start my very own blog. While I'm still learning the ropes on blogging, I feel like this is going to be fun. My goal is not to sway anyone's decisions on any of the topics I post but rather to put out information that I feel is worth talking about. What I can offers to readers that others cannot, is information based on my experiences and my experiences only, hence the title Knowledge is Experience. I am a 24yr old college student who loves to read (primarily topics in the natural sciences since I'm a biology major), play sports and hang out with my friends whenever I'm free. I know this sounds pretty typical but as I continue to learn new things that I consider interesting, I would like to share them with anyone who is interested in hearing them (in this case reading). And I couldn't think of a better place to do this other than a blog. And while I am not perfect, I am always open to suggestions, constructive criticism, etc. Like I said before, I intend for this to be fun and exciting.