Cell Membrane Resources

The plasma membrane of the cell is a dynamic structure that separates the intra and extracellular spaces and plays key roles in facilitating intercellular communication. Cell membranes are involved in many complex processes such as cell adhesion, receptor endocytosis, ion conduction, and exosome release. Therefore, understanding the composition of cellular membranes and their interactions is important in understanding many cellular functions.

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Membrane Lipid Strips are used in simple protein-lipid overlay assays to help determine the specificity of your protein towards one or more of 15 different biologically important lipids.

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Monoclonal antibody to PI(3,4,5)P3 for use with immunostaining and other in vitro applications.

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Phosphatidic Acid Beads are composed of agarose with bound phosphatidic acid (PA) and are designed for use in protein pull-down experiments.

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PI(4,5)P2 PolyPIPosomes are polymerized, liposome-like nanoparticles containing 5% PI(4,5)P2 and can be used for more complex applications such as surface plasmon resonance (SPR).

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Phosphatidylcholine (PC) is generally the most abundant lipid in cell membranes. POPC is a phospholipid with 16:0 and 18:1 acyl chains and is commonly used for synthetic liposomes. 

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Cellular Membranes

The outer plasma membrane is primarily a barrier separating the interior of a cell from the extracellular space. Crossing the membrane is usually dependent on specific transmembrane proteins, although the plasma membrane is semi-permeable and some molecules pass by simple diffusion. This serves as one of the ways that homeostasis is maintained.

Other internal cellular membranes such as those for the organelles (nucleus, mitochondira, lysosome, etc) have their own proteins and mechanisms for regulating passage and transport of specific cargo and molecules. 

Cell membranes also contain a wide variety of peripheral membrane proteins that participate in various signaling cascades thus adding another means by which cellular homeostasis can be maintained. 

Lipid Composition

The specific lipid composition of a membrane is also critical to understanding the global and local functions of the membrane. One key facet of lipid composition is the fluidity of the membrane. The fluidity of the membrane is important not only for adaptation of cellular shape but also for regulating movement of transmembrane proteins and protein complexes within the membrane.

Cholesterol (right, top) in particular is important as a bidirectional regulator of fluidity as it can have a stabilizing or stiffening effect depending on the temperature. Membrane fluidity and structure can also be affected by the acyl chain length and saturation of lipids. Phosphatidylcholine (right, middle) is one of the most abundant phospholipids in the plasma membrane and the predominant species of this lipid contain double bonds which ‘kink’ the acyl chain which influences lipid packing.  

Other membrane lipids, such as diacylglycerol (right, bottom), not only have structural functions but serve as intermediates in lipid metabolism and lipid signaling. 

Lipid-Protein Interatctions

As mentioned above, membrane-associated proteins perform specific and important cellular functions. There are also cytosolic proteins that can transiently interact with lipids in signaling complexes. The biological processes involving lipid-protein interactions include, but are not limited to: cellular trafficking, metabolism, pathogen recognition, and membrane transport. 

Therefore the ability to identify and investigate these interactions is critical to understanding the full picture of cellular biology. 

Protein Name Description Interacting Lipids Reference Uniprot
CHM7 Putative component of the ESCRT complex. Phosphatidic Acid Thaller et al. 2021 F2QNL8
WDR45/45B Component of the autophagy machinery that sorts cytoplasmic materials for degradation. PI(3)P Ji et al. 2021 Q5MNZ6
Rgd3 Modulates and maintains Rho3 polarity during growth in budding yeast. PI(4,5)P2 Gingras et al. 2020 N/A
PKCζ (protein kinase C zeta) Calcium- and diacylglycerol-independent serine/threonine-protein kinase that functions in the PI3K pathway. Phosphatidic Acid, Phosphatidylserine Velnati et al. 2020 Q05513
Gellin A & B Central effectors of wound-induced protoplasmic gelation. Phosphatidic Acid Nguyen et al. 2020 N/A
IFITM3 Endosomal protein that blocks viral infection. PI(3,4,5)P3 Lee et al. 2020 Q01628
ERD7 Induced due to dehydration stress in plants. PI(4,5)P2, PIPs Barajas-Lopez et al. 2020 O48832
PDZD8 Contributes to endosome maturation and intracellular calcium dynamics. PI(4)P, PS Shirane et al. 2020 B9EJ80
PATELLIN2 Carrier protein that may be involved in membrane-trafficking events associated with cell plate formation during cytokinesis. PI(4)P, PI(4,5)P2 Montad et al. 2020 Q56ZI2
EHBP1 An adaptor protein that regulates vesicular trafficking by recruiting Rab8 family members and EHD1/2. PI(3)P, PI(5)P Rai et al. 2020 Q8NDI1
RCD-1 Regulates programmed cell death spores in the fungus Neurospora crassa. PS, CL Daskalov et al. 2020 Q7S6F2
LDHA Catalyzes conversion of pyruvate to lactate. PA Hoshino et al. 2020 P06151
EXO70B1 Component of an exocyst subcomplex specifically involved in autophagy-related membrane traffic. PI(3)P, PI(5)P Pecenkova et al. 2020 Q9FGH9
SidC Anchors to membrane PI(4)P potentially for vacoule formation or as an adaptor. PI(4)P Weber et al. 2006 Q5ZSK6
PLC-d1-PH Mediates production of the second messenger molecules DAG and IP3 PI(4,5)P2 Sidhu et al. 2005 P51178
p40 PX Component of NADPH-oxidase PI(3)P Stahelin et al. 2003 O43739
Grp1-PH PH domain of Grp1, a Guanine-nucleotide releasing factor PI(3,4,5)P3 Saxena et al. 2002 Q15080
Spo20p Meiosis-specific subunit of the t-SNARE complex. PA Kassas et al 2017 C7GLA2
TRAF2 Regulates activation of NF-kappa-B and JNK PI(3)P Workman et al. 2020 Q12933
ZmGLR Role in cortical microtubule reorientation and maize leaf morphogenesis. PIPn Wang et al. 2019 E9NMH5
WDFY2 Plays a role in endosomal control of AKT2 signaling. PI(3)P Sneeggen et al. 2019 Q96P53
Vps13B Tethering factor in vesicle traffic between early and recycling endosomes. PI(3)P Koike et al. 2019 Q80TY5
VIPP1 "Plays crucial roles in the biogenesis and repair of thylakoid membrane protein complexes" PI(4)P Theis et al. 2019 Q66YD0
Vav1 Couples tyrosine kinase signals with the activation of the Rho/Rac GTPases. PI(5)P Rodriguez-Fdez et al. 2019 P27870
RASP2 Plays a key role in rhoptry exocytosis. PI(4)P, PI(4,5)P2, PA Suarez et al. 2019 A0A384KK73
SopF Type III secretion system effector protein. PI(4)P, PI(3,4)P2, PI(3,4,5)P3 Lau et al. 2019 A0A0F7DID8
SNX3 Phosphoinositide-binding protein required for multivesicular body formation. PI(3)P Klose et al. 2019 O60493
RGS12 Regulates G protein-coupled receptor signaling cascades. PI(5)P Schroer et al. 2019 O08774
RavD Trafficking of Legionella-containing vacuoles. PI(3)P Pike et al. 2019 A0A509GV61
Psd2 Possesses antifungal activity sensitive to inorganic cations. PI(3)P, PI(5)P, Phosphatidylserine, Cardiolipin Amaral et al. 2019 P81930
PLK1 Serine/threonine-protein kinase that performs several important functions throughout M phase of the cell cycle. mono-PIPs, PA Lin et al. 2019 P53350
PKCζ Calcium- and diacylglycerol-independent serine/threonine-protein kinase. Sphingosine 1-phosphate, sphingosine Kajimoto et al. 2019 Q05513
MPEG1/Perforin-2 Perforin-like protein that functions within the phagolysosome to damage engulfed microbes. Phosphatidylserine, Cardiolipin, PI, PI(4)P, PI(4,5)P2 Pang et al. 2019 Q2M385
Mfn2 Mitochondrial membrane protein with a role connecting ER membranes to mitochondria. Phosphatidic Acid, Phosphatidylserine Hernandez-Alvarez et al. 2019 O95140
CelTOS Malaria parasite protein required for cell traversal in hosts. PI(4,5)P2, PI(3,4,5)P3 Punde et al. 2019 A0A2R4QLJ4
cGAS Sensor of cytosolic DNA. PI(4,5)P2 Barnett et al. 2019 Q8N884
CKM Catalyzes the transfer of phosphate between ATP and various phosphogens. Phosphatidic Acid Hoshino et al. 2019 P07310
EXO70H4 EXO70 subunit of the exocyst complex. Phosphatidylserine, Cardiolipin Kubatova et al. 2019 Q9SF51
GRAMD1A Cholesterol transfer protein. predominantly mono-PIPs Laraia et al. 2019 M0R0J9
Irgb6 Involved in innate cell-autonomous resistance to intracellular pathogens. mono-PIPs, Phosphatidylserine Lee et al. 2019 Q62293
K-Ras4B Binds GDP/GTP and possess intrinsic GTPase activity. Most PIPs, Phosphatidic Acid Cao et al. 2019 P01116
GPA5 Plant-unique phox-homology domain-containing protein. PI(3)P Ren et al. 2020 N/A
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