Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 12, 2026
07:49
Spontaneous Formation and Rearrangement of Artificial Lipid Nanotube Networks as a Bottom-Up Model for Endoplasmic Reticulum
Published on: January 22, 2019
Networking in the endoplasmic reticulum.
1Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA. griffing@tamu.edu
Biochemical Society Transactions
|May 25, 2010
Summary
The plant endoplasmic reticulum (ER) network is remodeled by cytoskeletal dynamics. Persistency mapping reveals how actin and myosin XI-K control ER structure and directional diffusion, suggesting a role in cellular trafficking.
Area of Science:
- Cell Biology
- Plant Biology
- Cytoskeletal Dynamics
Background:
- The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) forms a dynamic network crucial for cellular function.
- Understanding the mechanisms governing ER network structure and dynamics is essential.
- The role of the cytoskeleton in ER organization and transport remains an active area of research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and apply a novel image analysis tool, persistency mapping, for studying the plant ER network.
- To investigate the cytoskeletal components and mechanisms involved in ER remodeling.
- To explore the functional implications of ER network structure on intracellular transport.
Main Methods:
- Development of persistency mapping for ER network analysis.
- Utilizing latrunculin B to study actin involvement in tubule dynamics.
- Investigating the role of myosin XI-K in ER ring structure.
- Observing cytoskeletal influence on diffusion within the ER membrane.
Main Results:
- Persistency mapping revealed anchor/growth sites potentially attaching the ER to the plasma membrane.
- Myosin XI-K is critical for the 'opening' and 'closing' of polygonal ER rings.
- Actin, modulated by latrunculin B, influences tubule elongation and persistence.
- The cytoskeleton directs diffusion within the ER membrane, restricting it to lower dimensions.
Conclusions:
- The plant ER network's structure is actively remodeled by cytoskeletal elements like actin and myosin XI-K.
- The ER network facilitates directional, reduced-dimensional diffusion of molecules.
- The ER functions as a trafficking network, utilizing cytoskeletal guidance for efficient transport of lipids, proteins, and signaling molecules.
Related Concept Videos
01:39Endoplasmic Reticulum
Endoplasmic ReticulumThe endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is an extensive network of membranous sacs and tubules in eukaryotic cells, continuous with the outer membrane of the nucleus. This structural continuity integrates nuclear and cytoplasmic processes and facilitates efficient intracellular transport. This allows mRNA to move directly from the nucleus to ribosomes for efficient protein synthesis. As a result, the ER serves as a central site for the synthesis, processing, and distribution of...
01:43The Endoplasmic Reticulum
The endoplasmic reticulum or ER makes up for more than half of the membranes in a cell and accounts for 10% of total cell volume. It is also the primary protein and lipid synthesis factory for most cell organelles, such as the Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, secretory vesicles, and the plasma membrane. Despite being the most extensive and functionally complex subcellular organelle, ER was the last to be discovered. After years of deliberation, Keith Porter and George Palade in the year 1954,...
01:43The Endoplasmic Reticulum
The endoplasmic reticulum or ER makes up for more than half of the membranes in a cell and accounts for 10% of total cell volume. It is also the primary protein and lipid synthesis factory for most cell organelles, such as the Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, secretory vesicles, and the plasma membrane. Despite being the most extensive and functionally complex subcellular organelle, ER was the last to be discovered. After years of deliberation, Keith Porter and George Palade in the year 1954,...
01:34Directing Proteins to the Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum
The organelle-specific signaling sequences direct proteins synthesized in the cytosol to their final destination like ER, mitochondria, peroxisomes, etc. Some of the proteins directed to ER are then trafficked via vesicles to other organelles within the cell or the extracellular environment through the Golgi complex. For example, the rough ER synthesizes soluble proteins for transportation to the lysosomes or secretion out of the cell. It can also synthesize transmembrane proteins that can...
01:49Golgi Apparatus
As they leave the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER), properly folded and assembled proteins are selectively packaged into vesicles. These vesicles are transported by microtubule-based motor proteins and fuse together to form vesicular tubular clusters, subsequently arriving at the Golgi apparatus, a eukaryotic endomembrane organelle that often has a distinctive ribbon-like appearance.The Golgi apparatus is a major sorting and dispatch station for the products of the ER. Newly arriving vesicles enter...
01:09Golgi Apparatus
Properly folded and assembled proteins are selectively packaged into vesicles that exit the ER. Motor proteins transport these vesicles to the Golgi apparatus for adding modifications that make these proteins functional at their destination.
The Golgi apparatus is a eukaryotic organelle that has a distinctive ribbon-like appearance. It is a primary sorting and dispatch station for cargo arriving from the ER. Newly arriving vesicles enter the cis face of the Golgi, closest to the ER, and are...
The Golgi apparatus is a eukaryotic organelle that has a distinctive ribbon-like appearance. It is a primary sorting and dispatch station for cargo arriving from the ER. Newly arriving vesicles enter the cis face of the Golgi, closest to the ER, and are...