Work

Mass Spectrometric Imaging of Highly Curved Membranes During Tetrahymena Mating

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: Biological membrane fusion is crucial to numerous cellular events, including sexual reproduction and exocytosis. Here, mass spectrometry images demonstrate that the low-curvature lipid phosphatidylcholine is diminished in the membrane regions between fusing Tetrahymena, where a multitude of highly curved fusion pores exist. Additionally, mass spectra and principal component analysis indicate that the fusion region contains elevated amounts of 2-aminoethylphosphonolipid, a high-curvature lipid. This evidence suggests that biological fusion involves and might in fact be driven by a heterogeneous redistribution of lipids at the fusion site.

Source: Science

DOI: 10.1126/science.1099791

Authors: Sara G. Ostrowski, Craig T. Van Bell, Nicholas Winograd, Andrew G. Ewing

Institutions: Pennsylvania State University, Edinboro University

Language: English

Topic: Lipid Membrane Structure and Behavior

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Award: Molecular Imaging of Biomaterials - Single Cells