Past exam of the biochemistry course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / Paper 5 / Section 1 / 1 / o / Solution 2026-10-20
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The fragment might sequester another factor required for vesicle trafficking or actin organization, rather than acting through Munc18. For example, binding a different SNARE-associated protein could lower the concentration available for productive endogenous complexes. This is a possible dominant-negative effect, not evidence that the isolated N terminus contains the entire SNARE interaction surface.
A less specific alternative is cellular stress or reduced viability. Those effects could suppress both invadopodium formation and matrix degradation without selectively inhibiting the proposed trafficking pathway.
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