View the Current Issue

Article

  • The EMBO Journal (2007) 26, 1 - 8
  • doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601466

Published online: 14 December 2006

Membrane potential governs lateral segregation of plasma membrane proteins and lipids in yeast

Guido Grossmann1,a, Miroslava Opekarová2,a, Jan Malinsky3,a, Ina Weig-Meckl1 and Widmar Tanner1

  1. University of Regensburg, Cell Biology and Plant Physiology, Regensburg, Germany
  2. Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Videnska, Czech Republic
  3. Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Videnska, Czech Republic

Correspondence to:

Widmar Tanner, Cell Biology and Plant Physiology, University of Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg, Germany. Tel.: +49 941 943 3018; Fax: +49 941 943 3352; E-mail: sekretariat.tanner@biologie.uni-regensburg.de

aThese authors contributed equally to this work

Received 28 June 2006; Accepted 24 October 2006

The plasma membrane potential is mainly considered as the driving force for ion and nutrient translocation. Using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism, we have discovered a novel role of the membrane potential in the organization of the plasma membrane. Within the yeast plasma membrane, two non-overlapping sub-compartments can be visualized. The first one, represented by a network-like structure, is occupied by the proton ATPase, Pma1, and the second one, forming 300-nm patches, houses a number of proton symporters (Can1, Fur4, Tat2 and HUP1) and Sur7, a component of the recently described eisosomes. Evidence is presented that sterols, the main lipid constituent of the plasma membrane, also accumulate within the patchy compartment. It is documented that this compartmentation is highly dependent on the energization of the membrane. Plasma membrane depolarization causes reversible dispersion of the H+-symporters, not however of the Sur7 protein. Mitochondrial mutants, affected in plasma membrane energization, show a significantly lower degree of membrane protein segregation. In accordance with these observations, depolarized membranes also considerably change their physical properties (detergent sensitivity).

  • Keywords:

    • H+-symporters,
    • lipid rafts,
    • membrane compartmentation,
    • susceptibility against detergents
Top

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated

RESEARCH

Pkh-kinases control eisosome assembly and organization

The EMBO Journal Article (12 Dec 2007)

Energy dependence and reversibility of membrane alterations induced by polyene macrolide antibiotics in Chlorella vulgaris

Nature Letter (06 Sep 1979)