Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, IPMC, 06560, Valbonne, France.
Institute of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Bioessays. 2017 Dec;39(12). doi: 10.1002/bies.201700117. Epub 2017 Oct 20.
Fission of cellular membranes is ubiquitous and essential for life. Complex protein machineries, such as the dynamin and ESCRT spirals, have evolved to mediate membrane fission during diverse cellular processes, for example, vesicle budding. A new study suggests that non-specialized membrane-bound proteins can induce membrane fission through mass action due to protein crowding. Because up to 2/3 of the mass of cellular membranes is contributed by proteins, membrane protein crowding is an important physiological parameter. Considering the complexity of membrane shape transitions during a fission reaction, spatial and temporal variability in protein distribution, and the abundance of intrinsically disordered regions in proteins on an invaginating membrane, protein crowding can have diverse consequences for fission in the cell. The question is, how and to what extent this mechanism combines with the action of dedicated fission machineries.
细胞膜的裂变是普遍存在的，也是生命所必需的。复杂的蛋白质机器，如动力蛋白和 ESCRT 螺旋，已经进化到可以在不同的细胞过程中介导膜裂变，例如囊泡出芽。一项新的研究表明，由于蛋白质拥挤，非专门的膜结合蛋白可以通过质量作用诱导膜裂变。由于细胞内膜的 2/3 以上是由蛋白质组成的，因此膜蛋白拥挤是一个重要的生理参数。考虑到裂变反应中膜形状转换的复杂性、蛋白质分布的时空可变性以及内在无序区在出芽膜上的蛋白质的丰富性，蛋白质拥挤对细胞内的裂变可能会产生不同的影响。问题是，这种机制是如何以及在何种程度上与专门的裂变机制结合的。
