Novel cell membrane model- a step to uncover protein regulation

Shrestha Dutta, Amity University Kolkata

The cell membrane is fundamentally comprised of two types of biomolecules: lipids and proteins. By building up a novel sort of membrane model, a group of researchers led by Vanderbilt University were capable to show that the shape and role of a protein can be transformed by exposing to various lipid composition. 

Studies indicated that specific lipids in cell membranes can acclimate to form clusters, also called rafts. Researchers propose that rafts may move all through the membrane and exist together with ungrouped molecules. The group of analysts have made a synthetic membrane which can incorporate sufficient quantity of two lipid molecules thought to make up rafts in cell membrane: cholesterol and sphingomyelin. Their methodology included creating disc-shaped biological structures, known as bicelles, that can develop an improved model of a cell membrane’s lipid bilayer.

In the wake of building up the bicelles, the scientists utilized small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering strategies to intricately determine the material’s shape and basic structure. But it was hard to affirm the actual morphology of the bicelle. The new model membrane could be utilized to comprehend lipid composition and membrane protein relationships, the researchers introduced their bicelles with a very much considered protein fragment, indicated as C99. This fragment makes up one area of a membrane protein called amyloid precursor protein, which scientists consider is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Notably, they marked that C99 fragments self-associate with each other in areas that had not recently been accounted for in any other model membrane. The analysts speculate these recently revealed binding sites could play a role in regulating another protein interplay with this fragment.

Reference:-

Hutchison JM, Shih KC, Scheidt HA, Fantin SM, Parson KF, Pantelopulos GA, Harrington HR, Mittendorf KF, Qian S, Stein RA, Collier SE, Chambers MG, Katsaras J, Voehler MW, Ruotolo BT, Huster D, McFeeters RL, Straub JE, Nieh MP, Sanders CR. Bicelles Rich in both Sphingolipids and Cholesterol and Their Use in Studies of Membrane Proteins. J Am Chem Soc. 2020 Jul 22;142(29):12715-12729. doi: http://10.1021/jacs.0c04669 Epub 2020 Jul 8. PMID: 32575981.

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