Question

Most sorting signals used in vesicular transport are sequences of short amino acids, except for sorting to one compartment that used an oligosaccharide moiety as its signal. Which compartment is this?

Answer 1

The lysosome is the compartment that uses an oligosaccharide moiety as a sorting signal for vesicular transport, specifically mannose-6-phosphate, which is acquired in the Golgi apparatus.

Step-by-step explanation:

The compartment that uses an oligosaccharide moiety as its sorting signal during vesicular transport is the lysosome. Unlike most cellular compartments, which rely on short amino acid sequences to direct the transport of proteins, the lysosome is unique in using oligosaccharides for this purpose. In the Golgi apparatus, proteins are modified with mannose-6-phosphate to specifically target them for delivery to lysosomes. This sugar modification acts as a signal for sorting into vesicles that will eventually fuse with lysosomes.