Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting - October 13-15, 2015

Biophysics of Proteins at Surfaces: Assembly, Activation, Signaling

Thursday Speaker Abstracts

The Role of the Membrane in Protein Pattern Formation Petra Schwille . Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Planegg, Germany. The Min protein system of the bacterium Escherichia coli is a beautiful example of how protein self-organization and pattern formation occurs in the fluid phase and on membranes via reaction- diffusion. Reconstituted onto supported or free-standing membranes, and supplied with energy in the form of ATP, the proteins MinD and MinE, which are in live cells responsible for positioning the cell division machinery, self-organize into parallel concentration waves that can be faithfully directed by structuring the membrane laterally or topologically. In my talk I will discuss the role of membrane binding in the emergence of patterns and protein gradients, and highlight the archetypical role that switchable membrane anchors, such as lipidation, may have in many polarity and/or pattern forming systems in biology. I will further discuss the role of membrane structure and topology on the emergence of Min patterns, and briefly explore the role of membrane charge and local lipid order. Finally, I will develop our concept of reconstituting a minimal version of cell division based on the essential modules of the bacterial divisome.

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