The exocyst complex in neurological disorders

Exocytosis is the process by which secretory vesicles fuse with the plasma membrane to deliver materials to the cell surface or to release cargoes to the extracellular space. The exocyst—an evolutionarily conserved octameric protein complex—mediates spatiotemporal control of SNARE complex assembly for vesicle fusion and tethering the secretory vesicles to the plasma membrane. The exocyst participates in diverse cellular functions, including protein trafficking to the plasma membrane, membrane extension, cell polarity, neurite outgrowth, ciliogenesis, cytokinesis, cell migration, autophagy, host defense, and tumorigenesis. Exocyst subunits are essential for cell viability; and mutations or variants in several exocyst subunits have been implicated in human diseases, mostly neurodevelopmental disorders and ciliopathies. These conditions often share common features such as developmental delay, intellectual disability, and brain abnormalities. In this review, we summarize the mutations and variants in exocyst subunits that have been linked to disease and discuss the implications of exocyst dysfunction in other disorders.