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Membranes
Special Issues
Membrane Architecture and Asymmetry
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Membrane Architecture and Asymmetry

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Biological Membrane Composition and Structures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 5895

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Iztok Urbančič

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Biophysics, Condensed Matter Physics Department, “Jozef Stefan” Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: cellular and molecular biophysics; fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopies; membrane structure and dynamics; lipid–protein interactions; nanoparticles
Dr. Falk Schneider

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Fraser Lab, Translational Imaging Center, Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, University of Southern California, 1002 Childs Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
Interests: quantitative imaging; fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy; plasma membrane organization; biophysics; signaling circuits

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit your contributions to the Special Issue of MDPI Membranes, titled “Membrane Architecture and Asymmetry”. 

The successful corresponding session at the EBSA2021 Congress has clearly demonstrated that recent advances in experimental approaches, measurement techniques, and simulation capabilities are bringing an ever more detailed understanding of numerous vital membrane-hosted processes, which is key for unraveling biological mechanisms and the development of exciting future applications. 

This Special Issue aims to highlight new insights into the composition, structure, and function of cellular membranes, as well as new ways of exploiting membrane heterogeneities in the design of model membrane systems for practical uses such as drug delivery. 

Original research articles and reviews are welcome; we encourage prior deposition of manuscripts onto preprint repositories (e.g. bioRxiv). Research areas may include (but are not limited to) experimental, computational, and theoretical studies of lateral compositional heterogeneities, membrane leaflet asymmetry, the interplay of membranes with the extracellular matrix or cytoskeleton, lipid-protein interactions, their involvement in cellular processes (such as signaling or trafficking), or their application for clinical and biotechnological purposes. 

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Iztok Urbančič
Dr. Falk Schneider
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Cellular membranes
  • Model biomembranes
  • Lipids
  • Membrane proteins
  • Lipid-protein interactions
  • Membrane heterogeneities
  • Leaflet asymmetry
  • Signaling
  • Trafficking
  • Membrane dynamics
  • Plasma membrane biophysics

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2260 KiB  
Article
Bacterial Membranes Are More Perturbed by the Asymmetric Versus Symmetric Loading of Amphiphilic Molecules
by W. F. Drew Bennett, Stephen J. Fox, Delin Sun and C. Mark Maupin
Membranes 2022, 12(4), 350; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12040350 - 22 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2506
Abstract
Characterizing the biophysical properties of bacterial membranes is critical for understanding the protective nature of the microbial envelope, interaction of biological membranes with exogenous materials, and designing new antibacterial agents. Presented here are molecular dynamics simulations for two cationic quaternary ammonium compounds, and [...] Read more.
Characterizing the biophysical properties of bacterial membranes is critical for understanding the protective nature of the microbial envelope, interaction of biological membranes with exogenous materials, and designing new antibacterial agents. Presented here are molecular dynamics simulations for two cationic quaternary ammonium compounds, and the anionic and nonionic form of a fatty acid molecule interacting with a Staphylococcus aureus bacterial inner membrane. The effect of the tested materials on the properties of the model membranes are evaluated with respect to various structural properties such as the lateral pressure profile, lipid tail order parameter, and the bilayer’s electrostatic potential. Conducting asymmetric loading of molecules in only one leaflet, it was observed that anionic and cationic amphiphiles have a large impact on the Staphylococcus aureus membrane’s electrostatic potential and lateral pressure profile as compared to a symmetric distribution. Nonintuitively, we find that the cationic and anionic molecules induce a similar change in the electrostatic potential, which points to the complexity of membrane interfaces, and how asymmetry can induce biophysical consequences. Finally, we link changes in membrane structure to the rate of electroporation for the membranes, and again find a crucial impact of introducing asymmetry to the system. Understanding these physical mechanisms provides critical insights and viable pathways for the rational design of membrane-active molecules, where controlling the localization is key. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Architecture and Asymmetry)
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Review

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16 pages, 1168 KiB  
Review
The Utility of Fluorescence Recovery after Photobleaching (FRAP) to Study the Plasma Membrane
by Charles A. Day and Minchul Kang
Membranes 2023, 13(5), 492; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13050492 - 2 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2778
Abstract
The plasma membrane of mammalian cells is involved in a wide variety of cellular processes, including, but not limited to, endocytosis and exocytosis, adhesion and migration, and signaling. The regulation of these processes requires the plasma membrane to be highly organized and dynamic. [...] Read more.
The plasma membrane of mammalian cells is involved in a wide variety of cellular processes, including, but not limited to, endocytosis and exocytosis, adhesion and migration, and signaling. The regulation of these processes requires the plasma membrane to be highly organized and dynamic. Much of the plasma membrane organization exists at temporal and spatial scales that cannot be directly observed with fluorescence microscopy. Therefore, approaches that report on the membrane’s physical parameters must often be utilized to infer membrane organization. As discussed here, diffusion measurements are one such approach that has allowed researchers to understand the subresolution organization of the plasma membrane. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (or FRAP) is the most widely accessible method for measuring diffusion in a living cell and has proven to be a powerful tool in cell biology research. Here, we discuss the theoretical underpinnings that allow diffusion measurements to be used in elucidating the organization of the plasma membrane. We also discuss the basic FRAP methodology and the mathematical approaches for deriving quantitative measurements from FRAP recovery curves. FRAP is one of many methods used to measure diffusion in live cell membranes; thus, we compare FRAP with two other popular methods: fluorescence correlation microscopy and single-particle tracking. Lastly, we discuss various plasma membrane organization models developed and tested using diffusion measurements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Architecture and Asymmetry)
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