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The beauty of simplicity in membrane biology

Nature Cell Biology volume 24, pages 1682–1685 (2022)Cite this article

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For the past 40 years, minimal reconstituted systems have helped cell biologists to understand the mechanisms that underlie membrane traffic. Having progressed from minimal synthetic and cell-derived ensembles to direct comparison with living systems, reconstitution is poised for ever more precise and informative understanding of membrane biology.

For cellular membranes, change is the only constant. Contorting to form protrusions and vesicles at one moment, only to break apart or fuse together at the next — the restlessness of these dynamic surfaces is fundamental to all cells. A myriad of functions, from membrane trafficking to cellular motility, require the continuous flux and remodelling of membranes. The biological and medical importance of membrane dynamics, coupled with its alluring beauty, first observed by George Palade and colleagues in the 1960s and 1970s1, has long motivated scientists to search for the underlying molecular mechanisms. Much has been learned by observing cells, but the complexity and resilience of a living system make it difficult to pinpoint the components required to achieve individual functions. This challenge has inspired reconstituted approaches, which have shaped the past and present of membrane biology. In particular, minimal systems have driven major discoveries in membrane traffic, which is the focus of this Comment. Although we lack the space to explore them here, similar narratives have played out in parallel in many other areas of membrane biology.

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Fig. 1: Methods and classes of reconstitution in membrane biology and traffic.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through grants R35GM139531(J.C.S.), R01GM075252 (T.K.), and R35GM130386 (T.K.) and the Welch Foundation through grant F-2047 (J.C.S.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Texas at Austin, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Austin, TX, USA

    Jeanne C. Stachowiak

  2. Harvard Medical School, Department of Cell Biology, Boston, MA, USA

    Tomas Kirchhausen

  3. Harvard Medical School, Department of Pediatrics, Boston, MA, USA

    Tomas Kirchhausen

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  1. Jeanne C. Stachowiak
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  2. Tomas Kirchhausen
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Correspondence to Jeanne C. Stachowiak.

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Stachowiak, J.C., Kirchhausen, T. The beauty of simplicity in membrane biology. Nat Cell Biol 24, 1682–1685 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-022-01015-6

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