GARP complex

GO:0000938 · Other · Multiprotein complex · Proposed

A quatrefoil tethering complex required for retrograde traffic from the early endosome back to the late Golgi and biogenesis of cytoplasmic vesicles. [GO:0000938]

Synonyms: Golgi associated retrograde protein complex; VFT tethering complex; Vps fifty three tethering complex

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

Components

Component	Type	Part of / acts on	Grounding	Genes	Essential	Role
Vps51 GARP subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	VPS51	UNKNOWN	Small coiled-coil GARP subunit that links the complex to the late-Golgi t-SNARE Tlg1p. `DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654` Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003 showed that Vps51 is an additional subunit of the tetrameric yeast GARP complex.
Vps52 GARP subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	VPS52	UNKNOWN	Constituent of the Vps52/Vps53/Vps54 core complex required for late-Golgi protein sorting. `DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654` Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003 described yeast GARP as a tetrameric Vps51/Vps52/Vps53/Vps54 complex.
Vps53 GARP subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	VPS53	UNKNOWN	Constituent of the Vps52/Vps53/Vps54 core complex required for late-Golgi protein sorting. `DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654` Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003 described yeast GARP as a tetrameric Vps51/Vps52/Vps53/Vps54 complex.
Vps54 GARP subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	VPS54	UNKNOWN	Constituent of the Vps52/Vps53/Vps54 core complex required for late-Golgi protein sorting. `DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654` Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003 described yeast GARP as a tetrameric Vps51/Vps52/Vps53/Vps54 complex.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — COMMON: Budding yeast uses the Vps51/Vps52/Vps53/Vps54 GARP complex in retrograde traffic from endosomes back to the trans-Golgi network. [DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Budding-yeast model in which Vps51 was identified as the fourth member of the Vps52/Vps53/Vps54 GARP tethering complex. [DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654]

Functions

retrograde transport, endosome to Golgi GO:0042147 — GARP is a Golgi-localized tethering complex required for retrograde transport from early and late endosomes back to the trans-Golgi network.
- GO:0042147 GO:0042147 denotes vesicle-mediated retrograde transport from endosomes back to the trans-Golgi network.
- DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654 Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003 found that all four yeast GARP members are required for retrograde transport from early and late endosomes back to the trans-Golgi network.

Mechanism graphs

GARP supports yeast endosome-to-Golgi retrograde transport (FUNCTION)

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Vps51 joins Vps52, Vps53 and Vps54 to form the GARP complex, a trans-Golgi-network tethering complex that links retrograde endosome-to-Golgi transport to the t-SNARE Tlg1p.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
Vps51 GARP subunit	is part of	GARP complex	`DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654` Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003 described yeast GARP as a tetramer containing Vps51, Vps52, Vps53 and Vps54.
Vps52 GARP subunit	is part of	GARP complex	`DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654` Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003 described yeast GARP as a tetramer containing Vps51, Vps52, Vps53 and Vps54.
Vps53 GARP subunit	is part of	GARP complex	`DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654` Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003 described yeast GARP as a tetramer containing Vps51, Vps52, Vps53 and Vps54.
Vps54 GARP subunit	is part of	GARP complex	`DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654` Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003 described yeast GARP as a tetramer containing Vps51, Vps52, Vps53 and Vps54.
Vps51 GARP subunit	binds	Tlg1 t-SNARE	`DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654` Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003 found that Vps51 mediates the association of GARP with Tlg1p.
GARP complex	localizes to	trans-Golgi network	`DOI:10.1091/mbc.11.1.305` Conibear and Stevens 2000 localized the Vps52/Vps53/Vps54 complex with yeast late-Golgi markers.
GARP complex	participates in	retrograde transport, endosome to Golgi	`DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654` Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003 showed that the four members of yeast GARP are required for retrograde transport to the trans-Golgi network.

Discussions

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve exact source-neutral InterPro, Pfam, or Complex Portal groundings for the four GARP subunit classes. The yeast literature names the Vps51/Vps52/Vps53/Vps54 proteins as GARP subunits, but this pass did not verify exact taxon-neutral family identifiers for those subunit classes.
CURATION_TODO (RESOLVED): Do not model Tlg1p as a constituent GARP component. Tlg1p links to GARP through Vps51, but the canonical GARP constituent list is Vps51, Vps52, Vps53 and Vps54.

Evidence

GO:0000938 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the GARP complex.
GO:0099023 Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for vesicle tethering complexes.
GO:0042147 Gene Ontology biological-process term for retrograde endosome-to-Golgi transport.
DOI:10.1091/mbc.11.1.305 Conibear and Stevens 2000, Vps52p, Vps53p, and Vps54p form a novel multisubunit complex required for protein sorting at the yeast late Golgi, Molecular Biology of the Cell.
DOI:10.1091/mbc.e02-10-0654 Conibear, Cleck and Stevens 2003, Vps51p mediates the association of the GARP (Vps52/53/54) complex with the late Golgi t-SNARE Tlg1p, Molecular Biology of the Cell.

Curation history

2026-09-16T18:36:30Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-16T18:37:48Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added GARP synonymy, vesicle-tethering parentage, reviewed-label-only Vps51/Vps52/Vps53/Vps54 yeast components, Saccharomyces scope, an endosome-to-Golgi retrograde-transport function, GO/DOI evidence, a nonmechanistic yeast TGN tethering graph, a subunit-grounding TODO, and a resolved Tlg1 boundary decision.
2026-09-16T18:47:06Z codex · ADDRESSED_PR_REVIEW — Addressed PR #1118 / issue #1119 by narrowing the resolved GARP interactor boundary to the cited Vps51-Tlg1p association.

Source: data/structures/other/garp_complex.yaml