The basolateral targeting signal in the cytoplasmic domain of glycoprotein G from vesicular stomatitis virus resembles a variety of intracellular targeting motifs related by primary sequence but having diverse targeting activities.

Using systematic site-directed mutagenesis, the basolateral targeting signal in the cytoplasmic domain of glycoprotein G from vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV G) has been localized to an 11-amino acid sequence, which contains two essential residues and a third that makes a minor contribution. A tyrosine at position 19 of the 29-residue carboxyl-terminal cytoplasmic tail is the most important residue and cannot be replaced by other aromatic amino acids, while an isoleucine at position 22, 3 residues carboxyl-terminal to this tyrosine, is also critical but can be replaced by other aliphatic residues. Additionally, an arginine at position 16 makes a minor contribution. Therefore the crucial elements of this targeting signal can be represented by the sequence Y-X-X-aliphatic. While earlier investigation has suggested similarity between basolateral targeting and internalization signals, alignment of this sequence with other cytoplasmic targeting signals suggests the existence of a broad class of homologous targeting motifs that direct protein delivery to a variety of cellular locations. This in turn suggests the existence of a family of homologous receptors, distributed throughout the cell, which differ in their affinity for subsets of these targeting sequences.