Vps53 (CG3338) notes

Large helical-rod subunit shared by GARP and EARP.

• Co-purifies with GARP subunits on Arl5-GTP and Rab4-GTP PMID:25795912.
• Co-IPs with CG4996/Vps50 in S2 cells; human VPS53 relocated to endosomes by Rab4 PMID:25453831.
• EARP shares Vps53 PMID:25799061.

Decisions: same convention as Vps51/Vps52 (GARP ACCEPT, NEW EARP complex, ND -> vesicle membrane tethering activity).

Deep research: falcon completed (genes/DROME/Vps53/Vps53-deep-research-falcon.md) after the review was first committed; checked for consistency.
- Deep research (falcon) notes that endogenous fly Vps53 has not been imaged and fly evidence is biochemical (Arl5 affinity purification).

ND literature-search citations (2026-11-06)

• existing_annotations[5], GO:0003674 molecular_function (ND, ACCEPT): may be stale. Fly papers identify Vps53 as a GTP-selective interactor of Arl5 (PMID:25795912) and of Rab4 (PMID:25453831), and CG3338-Myc co-precipitated with GFP-CG4996 in S2 cells. This is fly literature identifying a small GTPase binding activity (complex-level co-purification; direct contact not mapped), so the ND may no longer hold. Action left unchanged pending curator review.