Membrane traffic research: challenges for the next decade

Abstract The past decade of research in membrane traffic has led to fundamental insights into the cellular machinery that governs how membrane components are synthesized, recognized, and transported in the cell, and how these processes lead to organelle biogenesis and turnover. While the challenges for the future are many, this essay is focused on areas of investigation that we see as moving forward at a rapid pace and which speak to how membrane traffic contributes to overall cell and tissue function. These challenges include how membrane traffic is regulated in response to metabolic needs, how molecules are transferred between organelles through membrane contact sites, how membrane traffic is regulated and functions during processes such as development, and how membrane traffic is used by highly differentiated cells to perform specialized cell functions.