Identification of a Golgi-localized peptide encoded by the CENP-R transcript

Understanding cell biological behaviors requires the ability to visualize different cellular structures and compartments. Excellent markers and tagged proteins exist to detect key cellular structures such as the ER and mitochondrion, where minimal targeting motifs can be used to image and target proteins to these specific organelles [1-3]. These markers make visualizing these organelles robust and easy, and provide insights into the requirements for targeting proteins to these subcellular compartments. In the course of our ongoing work, we identified a 37 amino acid peptide that is encoded by a hypothetical alternative open reading frame (altORF) within the mRNA produced for the CENP-R gene. Unlike the centromere-localized canonical CENP-R protein, we find that this small peptide localizes specifically to the Golgi compartment. Our studies demonstrate that this altORF peptide can serve as a valuable tool for cell biology experimentation to visualize the Golgi for both fixed and live cell analyses.