GolgiStacks

GolgiStacks are the structural components of the Golgi apparatus, comprising flattened membrane-bound cisternae that arrange in stacked assemblies. In most eukaryotic cells the Golgi sits near the nucleus and centrosome, with a cis face facing the endoplasmic reticulum and a trans face oriented toward the plasma membrane or late endosomes.

Cargo from the ER enters the Golgi at the cis face; as it traverses medial to trans cisternae, it undergoes modifications such as N- and O-linked glycosylation, sulfation, and proteolytic processing. The Golgi also sorts and packages cargo into vesicles targeted to lysosomes, secretory granules, the plasma membrane, or endosomes.

Organizational patterns vary among organisms: vertebrate cells commonly form a perinuclear Golgi ribbon in which multiple stacks are linked by tubular connections; plant cells have scattered dictyosomes; and many fungi show more dispersed cisternae rather than a single compact ribbon.

Golgi maintenance involves vesicular trafficking, notably COPI-mediated retrograde transport that preserves cisternal composition; the cisternal maturation model proposes that cisternae progress from cis to trans as they mature, while an alternative vesicular transport view emphasizes forward vesicle trafficking.

Dysfunction in Golgi processing or trafficking is associated with congenital disorders of glycosylation and related diseases.