Stochastic Model of Maturation and Vesicular Exchange in Cellular Organelles

The dynamical organization of membrane-bound organelles along intracellular transport pathways relies on vesicular exchange between organelles and on biochemical maturation of the organelle content by specific enzymes. The relative importance of each mechanism in controlling organelle dynamics remains controversial, in particular for transport through the Golgi apparatus. Using a stochastic model, we show that full maturation of membrane-bound compartments can be seen as the stochastic escape from a steady-state in which export is dominated by vesicular exchange. We show that full maturation can contribute a significant fraction of the total out-flux for small organelles such as endosomes and Golgi cisternae.