Special Issue "Membrane Transport"

Guest Editor
Dr. Kip Gabriel
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Room 253 Level 2 Building 76 (STRIP2), Monash University, Clayton, 3800, Australia
Website: http://www.med.monash.edu.au/biochem/staff/gabriel.html
E-Mail: kip.gabriel@monash.edu
Phone: +61 3 9902 9213

Dear Colleagues,

Cells are separated from their environment by lipid membranes. The presence of membrane barriers means that mechanisms for the transport of proteins into and across membranes must also exist. In bacteria these mechanisms allow processes such as nutrient uptake, cell to cell signalling and interaction and the targeting of toxins to host cells during infection. In eukaryotic cells, the membrane system is even more elaborate with the presence of compartments, the organelles, separating biological processes. The trafficking of membrane proteins is by virtue of protein targeting signals and is dependent on machineries that can recognize them at each membrane.

The current special issue will highlight some of the most recent research in this area and provide a collection of reviews, which summarize our current understanding of the trafficking of lipids and proteins into and across cellular membranes.

Dr. Kip Gabriel
Guest Editor

Submission

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• membranes
• membrane proteins
• lipids
• proteins
• translocase machinery
• protein Secretion
• organelles
• protein targeting
• bacterial protein secretion

Title: Emerging Roles of Potassium Channels in the Chondrocyte Channelome: Mechanotransduction, Chemotransduction, Metabolic Regulation and Cell Proliferation
Authors: Ali Mobasheri ¹, Alexandrina Ferreira-Mendes ², Caroline Dart ³ and Richard Barrett-Jolley ⁴
Affiliations: ¹ Musculoskeletal Research Group, Division of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Sutton Bonington, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, UK; E-Mail: ali.mobasheri@nottingham.ac.uk
² Center for Neurosciences and Cell Biology, and Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, 3004-517 Coimbra, Portugal
³ School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside, L69 7ZB, UK
⁴ Department of Comparative Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside, L69 7ZJ, UK
Abstract: Potassium channels belong to a large superfamily of integral membrane proteins that selectively transport K⁺ across biological membranes. They are present in almost all animal cells and play a wide variety of physiological roles in both excitable and non-excitable cells.  Despite sharing similar architectural and structural designs, the phenotypic diversity required to accomplish their diverse functional roles is achieved by subtle differences in conductance, time-course mechanisms of gating, and the interaction with a variety of ligands and accessory proteins.  Potassium channels are associated with the control of neuronal excitability, neurotransmitter release, cardiac and smooth muscle contraction, heart rate, endocrine secretion, epithelial electrolyte transport, cell proliferation, apoptosis and tumor progression.  Recent advances in genomics and proteomics have enhanced our knowledge and understanding of the chondrocyte “channelome”.  A number of potassium channels have been identified in articular chondrocytes with well known specialized functions in other cell types.  Ongoing studies are aimed at deciphering the putative functions of potassium channels in these cells and determining the consequences of their pharmacological activation and inactivation on the unique chondrocyte phenotype.  The behavior of chondrocytes is influenced by modulation of ion channel expression and activity.  In this review we focus on recent experimental studies on potassium channels in chondrocytes and discuss recent research that has implicated these proteins in metabolic regulation, mechanotransduction, chemotransduction, volume regulation and cell proliferation.
Keywords: cartilage; chondrocyte; channelome; potassium channel; membrane potential; stretch-activation; mechanotransduction; chemotransduction; metabolic regulation; oxygen sensing; cell proliferation

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Endocytic Regulation of Cell Adhesion in Neural Development and Cancer
Author: Takeshi Kawauchi ^1,2
Affiliations: ¹ Department of Anatomy, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan; E-Mail: takeshi-kawauchi@umin.ac.jp
² Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Saitama 332-0012, Japan
Abstract: Dynamic rearrangement of cell adhesion plays crucial roles in tissue organization during development and its deregulation leads to several diseases, including cancer. The cell surface levels of adhesion molecules are mainly defined by endocytosis-mediated membrane trafficking. Accumulating evidence shows that endocytic regulation of adhesion molecules is involved in cell migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), both of which are closely associated with tissue organization and cancer metastasis. Furthermore, recent studies have uncovered that two major endocytic pathways, recycling to plasma membrane and lysosomal degradation, differentially regulate multi-step migration of immature neurons during normal brain development. In this review article, I discuss the regulatory mechanisms for the dynamic behavior of cell adhesion molecules, cadherin and integrin, by endocytic pathways in cell migration in physiological and pathological conditions, especially focusing on neural development and cancer.
Keywords: neuronal migration; endocytosis; Rab5; Rab11; Rab7; N-cadherin; cerebral cortex