Eukaryotic cells are compartmentalized into membrane-bound organelles that must coordinate their responses to stimuli. One way that organelles communicate is via membrane contact sites (MCSs), sites of close apposition between organelles used for the exchange of ions, lipids and information. In this Cell Science at a Glance article and the accompanying poster, we describe an explosion of new methods that have led to exciting progress in this area and discuss key examples of how these methods have advanced our understanding of MCSs. We discuss how diffraction-limited and super-resolution fluorescence imaging approaches have provided important insight into the biology of interorganelle communication. We also describe how the development of multiple proximity-based methods has enabled the detection of MCSs with high accuracy and precision. Finally, we assess how recent advances in electron microscopy (EM), considered the gold standard for detecting MCSs, have allowed the visualization of MCSs and associated proteins in 3D at ever greater resolution.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jcs.262020 | DOI Listing |
Pathogenic variants of GDAP1 cause Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), an inherited neuropathy characterized by axonal degeneration. GDAP1, an atypical glutathione S-transferase, localizes to the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM), regulating this organelle's dynamics, transport, and membrane contact sites (MCSs). It has been proposed that GDAP1 functions as a cellular redox sensor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContact (Thousand Oaks)
December 2024
Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
Membrane contact sites (MCSs) are specialized regions where two or more organelle membranes come into close apposition, typically separated by only 10-30 nm, while remaining distinct and unfused. These sites play crucial roles in cellular homeostasis, signaling, and metabolism. This review focuses on ion channels, transporters, and receptors localized to MCSs, with particular emphasis on those associated with the plasma membrane and endoplasmic reticulum (ER).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Manage
January 2025
Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
The effects of cyanobacteria biochar (CB) amendment on microbial community succession (MCS) during pig manure co-composting was evaluated. Conventional composting (T1) and different concentrations of CB co-composting were set up here (T2: 2.5% CB, T3: 5% CB, T4: 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethods Mol Biol
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Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire et Végétale, CNRS, CEA, INRAE, Universite Grenoble Alpes, IRIG, CEA Grenoble, Grenoble, France.
Membrane biogenesis requires an extensive traffic of lipids between different cell compartments. Two main pathways, the vesicular and non-vesicular pathways, are involved in such a process. Whereas the mechanisms involved in vesicular trafficking are well understood, less is known about non-vesicular lipid trafficking, particularly in plants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethods Mol Biol
December 2024
Department of Neurochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, Niigata University School of Medicine and Graduate School of Medical/Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
Oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP)-related proteins (ORPs) are a large family of lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) in mammals. ORPs mediate the countertransport of two distinct lipids at membrane contact sites (MCSs). ORP10 is localized via binding to ORP9 at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-endosome MCSs, where it mediates countertransport of phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI4P) and phosphatidylserine (PS).
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