retromer, tubulation complex

GO:0030905 · Other · Multiprotein complex · Proposed

The dimeric subcomplex of the retromer, believed to be peripherally associated with the membrane. This dimeric complex is responsible for remodeling endosomal membranes to form a tube-structure to which cargo molecules are selected for recycling. The budding yeast complex comprises Vps5p and Vps17p, and may contain multiple copies of a Vps5p/Vps17p dimer. The mammalian complex contains SNX1 or SNX2 dimerized with SNX5 or SNX6. [GO:0030905]

Synonyms: SNX-BAR dimer; heterodimeric membrane-deforming retromer subcomplex; retromer complex, outer shell

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	Stoichiometry	Essential	Role
Vps5 retromer subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	VPS5		UNKNOWN	Vps5 constituent of the yeast tubulation retromer subcomplex. `DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665` Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998 placed Vps5p in the Vps5p/Vps17p membrane-coat retromer subcomplex. `GO:0030905` The GO tubulation retromer-complex definition names Vps5p as a yeast constituent.
Vps17 retromer subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	VPS17		UNKNOWN	Vps17 constituent of the yeast tubulation retromer subcomplex. `DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665` Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998 placed Vps17p in the Vps5p/Vps17p membrane-coat retromer subcomplex. `GO:0030905` The GO tubulation retromer-complex definition names Vps17p as a yeast constituent.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — COMMON: Budding yeast has a Vps5p/Vps17p membrane-coat subcomplex corresponding to the tubulation branch of retromer. [DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Model in which Seaman, McCaffery and Emr defined the tubulation branch of retromer as a Vps5p/Vps17p membrane-coat subcomplex. [DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665]

Mechanism graphs

Vps5/Vps17 assemble the yeast tubulation retromer subcomplex (ASSEMBLY)

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Vps5p and Vps17p constitute the tubulation retromer subcomplex that is part of the larger retromer complex.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
Vps5 retromer subunit	is part of	retromer, tubulation complex	`DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665` Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998 placed Vps5p in a Vps5p/Vps17p membrane-coat subcomplex.
Vps17 retromer subunit	is part of	retromer, tubulation complex	`DOI:10.1083/jcb.142.3.665` Seaman, McCaffery and Emr 1998 placed Vps17p in a Vps5p/Vps17p membrane-coat subcomplex.
retromer, tubulation complex	is part of	retromer complex	`GO:0030905` GO:0030905 denotes the tubulation 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 tubulation retromer Vps5 and Vps17 subunit classes spanning yeast and metazoan sorting nexins. This record preserves the named Saccharomyces cerevisiae Vps5p and Vps17p subunits and the metazoan SNX1-or-SNX2/SNX5-or-SNX6 variation in the GO definition without asserting exact family groundings until those family identifiers are reviewed exactly.

Evidence

GO:0030905 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the tubulation 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

2026-09-23T20:57:08Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-23T20:57:44Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added GO membrane-complex parentage and retromer parthood, exact GO aliases, reviewed-label-only Vps5/Vps17 yeast components, Saccharomyces scope, GO/DOI evidence, a nonmechanistic tubulation assembly graph, and a component-grounding TODO.

Source: data/structures/other/retromer_tubulation_complex.yaml