Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biophysics, Am Klopferspitz 18, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany.
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2012 Oct;23(5):758-65. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2012.03.012. Epub 2012 Apr 12.
In the context of minimal systems design, there are two areas in which the reductionist approach has been particularly successful: studies of molecular motors on cytoskeletal filaments, and of protein-lipid interactions in model membranes. However, a minimal cortex, that is, the interface between membrane and cytoskeleton, has just begun to be functionally reconstituted. A key property of living cells is their ability to change their shape in response to extracellular and intracellular stimuli. Although studied in live cells since decades, the mutual dependence between cytoskeleton and membrane dynamics in these large-scale transformations is still poorly understood. Here we report on inspiring recent in vitro work in this direction, and the promises it holds for a better understanding of key cellular processes.
在最小系统设计的背景下，还原论方法在两个领域取得了特别的成功：细胞骨架丝上的分子马达研究，以及模型膜中的蛋白-脂相互作用。然而，最小皮质，即膜和细胞骨架之间的界面，才刚刚开始在功能上重新构建。活细胞的一个关键特性是它们能够响应细胞外和细胞内的刺激改变形状。尽管几十年来一直在活细胞中进行研究，但在这些大规模转化中细胞骨架和膜动力学之间的相互依赖关系仍知之甚少。在这里，我们报告了这方面令人鼓舞的最新体外工作，以及它对更好地理解关键细胞过程的潜力。
