Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

What are Membranes?

What are Membranes?

A cell's plasma membrane demarcates the cell's borders and determines the nature of its interaction with the environment. Cells exclude certain substances, take in others, and excrete some others in controlled quantities. The plasma membrane must be flexible to allow certain cells, such as red and white blood cells, to change their shape while passing through narrow capillaries. These are the more obvious plasma membrane functions. In addition, the plasma membrane's surface carries markers that...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Chromokinesin Klp-19 regulates microtubule overlap and dynamics during anaphase in C. elegans.

Journal of cell science·2026

Same author

Body-plan organizer in comb jellies hints at animal ancestry.

Nature·2026

Same author

Multivalent assembly of PAR-3/aPKC complexes establishes cell polarity in <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> zygotes.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same author

A blastoporal organizer in a ctenophore.

Nature·2026

Same author

Opposing actomyosin pools establish epithelial polarity during naive pluripotency exit.

The Journal of cell biology·2026

Same author

The anti-neural role of BMP signaling is a consequence of its ancestral function in dorsoventral patterning.

PLoS biology·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 3, 2026

The C. elegans Intestine As a Model for Intercellular Lumen Morphogenesis and In Vivo Polarized Membrane Biogenesis at the Single-cell Level: Labeling by Antibody Staining, RNAi Loss-of-function Analy

The C. elegans Intestine As a Model for Intercellular Lumen Morphogenesis and In Vivo Polarized Membrane Biogenesis at the Single-cell Level: Labeling by Antibody Staining, RNAi Loss-of-function Analy

Published on: October 3, 2017

Targeting the cell membrane in established and emerging model organisms.

Irene Karapidaki^1,2, Mette Handberg-Thorsager³, Tsuyoshi Momose^2,4

¹Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon (IGFL), École Normale Supérieure de Lyon and CNRS, France.

Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology

|November 24, 2025

Summary

Researchers developed a versatile toolkit of 11 membrane-localizing tags for studying cells and organisms. This toolkit successfully identified robust tags across ten diverse animal species and choanoflagellates, with three tags showing universal efficacy.

Keywords:

comparative cell biology evo devo non-conventional model organisms plasma membrane targeting

More Related Videos

The C. elegans Excretory Canal as a Model for Intracellular Lumen Morphogenesis and In Vivo Polarized Membrane Biogenesis in a Single Cell: labeling by GFP-fusions, RNAi Interaction Screen and Imaging

The C. elegans Excretory Canal as a Model for Intracellular Lumen Morphogenesis and In Vivo Polarized Membrane Biogenesis in a Single Cell: labeling by GFP-fusions, RNAi Interaction Screen and Imaging

Published on: October 3, 2017

Author Spotlight: Image-Based Methods to Study Membrane Trafficking Events in Stomatal Lineage Cells

Author Spotlight: Image-Based Methods to Study Membrane Trafficking Events in Stomatal Lineage Cells

Published on: May 12, 2023

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 3, 2026

The C. elegans Intestine As a Model for Intercellular Lumen Morphogenesis and In Vivo Polarized Membrane Biogenesis at the Single-cell Level: Labeling by Antibody Staining, RNAi Loss-of-function Analy

The C. elegans Intestine As a Model for Intercellular Lumen Morphogenesis and In Vivo Polarized Membrane Biogenesis at the Single-cell Level: Labeling by Antibody Staining, RNAi Loss-of-function Analy

Published on: October 3, 2017

The C. elegans Excretory Canal as a Model for Intracellular Lumen Morphogenesis and In Vivo Polarized Membrane Biogenesis in a Single Cell: labeling by GFP-fusions, RNAi Interaction Screen and Imaging

The C. elegans Excretory Canal as a Model for Intracellular Lumen Morphogenesis and In Vivo Polarized Membrane Biogenesis in a Single Cell: labeling by GFP-fusions, RNAi Interaction Screen and Imaging

Published on: October 3, 2017

Author Spotlight: Image-Based Methods to Study Membrane Trafficking Events in Stomatal Lineage Cells

Author Spotlight: Image-Based Methods to Study Membrane Trafficking Events in Stomatal Lineage Cells

Published on: May 12, 2023

Area of Science:

Cell Biology
Developmental Biology
Molecular Biology

Background:

Transgenic tools are crucial for studying cells and organisms.
Membrane-localizing signals vary in efficacy across species, hindering broad application.
Existing tools often rely on species-specific elements like cis-regulatory elements.

Purpose of the Study:

To create a universal toolkit of membrane-localizing tags for broad species applicability.
To identify robust membrane-targeting signals that function across diverse animal phyla.
To facilitate rapid screening of membrane localization tools in various biological systems.

Main Methods:

Generated a toolkit of 11 membrane-localizing tags fused to mScarlet3 fluorescent protein.
Utilized T7 promoter for in vitro mRNA production and delivery into embryos and cells.
Tested the toolkit across ten animal species (chordates, echinoderms, arthropods, nematodes, annelids, flatworms, cnidarians) and choanoflagellates.

Main Results:

Identified robust membrane-localizing tags functional in all ten tested animal species and choanoflagellates.
Discovered three tags (KRas, GAP43, Src64B) that demonstrate efficacy across all tested species.
The toolkit enabled rapid screening and identification of effective membrane targeting signals.

Conclusions:

The developed toolkit provides a valuable resource for studying membrane localization in diverse organisms.
The identification of universally effective tags (KRas, GAP43, Src64B) significantly advances cross-species biological research.
This work overcomes species-specific limitations in membrane targeting tool development.