vacuole

GO:0005773 · Membrane organelle · Membrane bounded organelle · Proposed

A closed structure, found only in eukaryotic cells, that is completely surrounded by unit membrane and contains liquid material. [GO:0005773]

Has part: vacuolar membrane (GO:0005774); vacuolar lumen (GO:0005775)

UniProt location names: UniProt Consortium, CC BY 4.0. Reference label and route sources.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — COMMON: Budding yeast has a lysosome-like vacuole with a bounding vacuolar membrane and acidic lumen. [DOI:10.1016/j.bbamcr.2008.08.003]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Budding-yeast model for a vacuole specialized for lysosome-like degradation, storage, and homeostasis. [DOI:10.1016/j.bbamcr.2008.08.003]

Functions

vacuolar storage and degradation — In budding yeast, the vacuole uses an acidic lumen and vacuolar membrane to combine small-molecule storage with macromolecule degradation.
- GO:0000324 GO:0000324 defines the fungal-type vacuole as a vacuole with lytic and storage functions.
- DOI:10.1016/j.bbamcr.2008.08.003 Li and Kane 2009 review the yeast vacuole as a lysosome-like organelle at the intersection of storage, degradation, and homeostasis.

Mechanism graphs

Vacuoles pair a membrane with a lumen (FUNCTION)

The vacuole is a membrane-bounded organelle whose broad topology consists of a vacuolar membrane surrounding a vacuolar lumen; the fungal-type vacuole specializes that same membrane/lumen organization in yeast.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
vacuolar membrane	is part of	vacuole	`GO:0005774` GO:0005774 identifies the vacuolar membrane. `GO:0005773` GO:0005773 identifies the containing vacuole.
vacuolar lumen	is part of	vacuole	`GO:0005775` GO:0005775 identifies the vacuolar lumen. `GO:0005773` GO:0005773 identifies the containing vacuole.
fungal-type vacuole	is a	vacuole	`GO:0000324` GO:0000324 defines fungal-type vacuole as a vacuole with lytic and storage functions. `GO:0005773` GO:0005773 identifies the broader vacuole.
fungal-type vacuole membrane	is part of	fungal-type vacuole	`GO:0000329` GO:0000329 identifies the fungal-type vacuole membrane. `GO:0000324` GO:0000324 identifies the containing fungal-type vacuole.
fungal-type vacuole lumen	is part of	fungal-type vacuole	`GO:0000328` GO:0000328 identifies the fungal-type vacuole lumen. `GO:0000324` GO:0000324 identifies the containing fungal-type vacuole.
fungal-type vacuole membrane	is a	vacuolar membrane	`GO:0000329` GO:0000329 identifies the fungal-type vacuole membrane. `GO:0005774` GO:0005774 identifies the broader vacuolar membrane class.
fungal-type vacuole lumen	is a	vacuolar lumen	`GO:0000328` GO:0000328 identifies the fungal-type vacuole lumen. `GO:0005775` GO:0005775 identifies the broader vacuolar lumen class.

Discussions

INTERPRETATION (RESOLVED): Keep the vacuolar membrane and vacuolar lumen as substructures rather than as molecular components of the vacuole. GO:0005774 denotes the bounding membrane of the vacuole and GO:0005775 denotes its internal lumen; neither term is a molecular constituent such as a protein, lipid, or polysaccharide family.

Evidence

GO:0005773 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for vacuole.
GO:0043231 Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for intracellular membrane-bounded organelle.
GO:0005774 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the vacuolar membrane.
GO:0005775 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the vacuolar lumen.
GO:0000324 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the fungal-type vacuole subtype.
GO:0000329 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the fungal-type vacuole membrane subtype.
GO:0000328 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the fungal-type vacuole lumen subtype.
DOI:10.1016/j.bbamcr.2008.08.003 Li and Kane 2009, The yeast lysosome-like vacuole: Endpoint and crossroads, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta.

Curation history

2026-09-15T07:52:32Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-15T07:53:42Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added intracellular-membrane-bounded-organelle parentage, vacuolar membrane and lumen parts, Saccharomyces scope, yeast storage and degradation function, GO/DOI evidence, a nonmechanistic topology graph, and a resolved membrane/lumen boundary interpretation.
2026-09-15T08:04:43Z codex · REVIEW_FIX — Addressed review issue #950 by connecting the fungal-type vacuole membrane and lumen directly to the fungal-type vacuole in the topology graph.

Source: data/structures/membrane_organelle/vacuole.yaml