retromer, cargo-selective complex

GO:0030906 · Other · Multiprotein complex · Proposed

The trimeric subcomplex of the retromer, believed to be closely associated with the membrane. This trimeric complex is responsible for recognizing and binding to cargo molecules. The complex comprises three Vps proteins in both yeast and mammalian cells: Vps35p, Vps29p, and Vps26p in yeast, and VPS35, VPS29 and VPS26A or VPS26B in mammals. [GO:0030906]

Synonyms: cargo-selective retromer subcomplex; retromer CSC; retromer complex, inner shell; retromer, CRC; retromer, cargo recognition complex

Part of: retromer complex (GO:0030904)

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
Vps35 retromer subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	VPS35	UNKNOWN	Vps35 constituent of the yeast cargo-selective retromer subcomplex. `DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665` Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998 placed Vps35p in the Vps35p/Vps29p/Vps26p retromer subcomplex. `GO:0030906` The GO cargo-selective retromer-complex definition names Vps35p as a yeast constituent.
Vps29 retromer subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	VPS29	UNKNOWN	Vps29 constituent of the yeast cargo-selective retromer subcomplex. `DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665` Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998 placed Vps29p in the Vps35p/Vps29p/Vps26p retromer subcomplex. `GO:0030906` The GO cargo-selective retromer-complex definition names Vps29p as a yeast constituent.
Vps26 retromer subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	VPS26	UNKNOWN	Vps26 constituent of the yeast cargo-selective retromer subcomplex. `DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665` Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998 placed Vps26p in the Vps35p/Vps29p/Vps26p retromer subcomplex. `GO:0030906` The GO cargo-selective retromer-complex definition names Vps26p as a yeast constituent.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — COMMON: Budding yeast has a Vps35p/Vps29p/Vps26p cargo-selective retromer subcomplex. [DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Model in which Seaman, McCaffery and Emr defined the cargo-selective branch of retromer as a Vps35p/Vps29p/Vps26p subcomplex. [DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665]

Mechanism graphs

Vps35/Vps29/Vps26 assemble the yeast cargo-selective retromer subcomplex (ASSEMBLY)

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Vps35p, Vps29p and Vps26p constitute the cargo-selective retromer subcomplex that is part of the larger retromer complex.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
Vps35 retromer subunit	is part of	retromer, cargo-selective complex	`DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665` Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998 placed Vps35p in a Vps35p/Vps29p/Vps26p subcomplex.
Vps29 retromer subunit	is part of	retromer, cargo-selective complex	`DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665` Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998 placed Vps29p in a Vps35p/Vps29p/Vps26p subcomplex.
Vps26 retromer subunit	is part of	retromer, cargo-selective complex	`DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665` Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998 placed Vps26p in a Vps35p/Vps29p/Vps26p subcomplex.
retromer, cargo-selective complex	is part of	retromer complex	`GO:0030906` GO:0030906 denotes the cargo-selective retromer subcomplex. `DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665` Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998 described yeast retromer as assembling from Vps35p/Vps29p/Vps26p and Vps5p/Vps17p subcomplexes.

Discussions

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve exact source-neutral InterPro or Pfam groundings for cargo-selective retromer Vps35, Vps29 and Vps26 subunit classes spanning yeast and metazoan proteins. This record preserves the named Saccharomyces cerevisiae Vps35p, Vps29p and Vps26p subunits and the metazoan VPS35/VPS29/VPS26A-or-VPS26B variation in the GO definition without asserting exact family groundings until those family identifiers are reviewed exactly.

Evidence

GO:0030906 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the cargo-selective retromer subcomplex.
GO:0098796 Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for membrane protein complexes.
GO:0030904 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the parent retromer complex.
DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665 Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998, A Membrane Coat Complex Essential for Endosome-to-Golgi Retrograde Transport in Yeast, Journal of Cell Biology.

Curation history

2026-09-23T20:26:59Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-23T20:27:59Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added GO membrane-complex parentage and retromer parthood, reviewed-label-only Vps35/Vps29/Vps26 yeast components, Saccharomyces scope, GO/DOI evidence, a nonmechanistic cargo-selective assembly graph, and a component-grounding TODO.
2026-09-23T20:38:03Z codex · ADDRESS_REVIEW — Replaced PR #1424 / issue #1425 synonym curation with the exact GO:0030906 aliases and removed an unlisted word-order variant.

Source: data/structures/other/retromer_cargo_selective_complex.yaml