Understanding Periperal Membrane Protein Interactions | BPS Thematic Meeting

Understanding Peripheral Membrane Protein Interactions: Structure, Dynamics, Function and Therapy

Thursday Speaker Abstracts

PERIPHERAL PROTEINS AS MASTER REGULATORS OF MEMBRANE ORGANIZATION AND COMPOSITION Stefano Vanni 1 ; 1 University of Fribourg, Department of Biology, Fribourg, Switzerland Recent breakthroughs in both protein structure determination and artificial-intelligence based predictions have allowed to investigate large macromolecular protein assemblies with unprecedented accuracy down to the atomistic scale. Yet, characterizing and understanding the mechanism of such machineries at the molecular level, and especially in the presence of cellular membranes, remains extremely challenging, owing to the highly dynamic nature of lipid assemblies. To overcome this limitation, computational methods, such as molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, have emerged as a powerful tool for studying the dynamics and mechanisms of complex processes taking place at cellular membranes. To this end, we have recently developed new computational assays based on molecular simulations and combined them with various experimental approaches (in situ cryo-ET, fluorescence microscopy, in vitro and in vivo functional assays) to investigate how molecular interactions between proteins and lipids modulate cellular processes. In this contribution, I will show how these developments have allowed us to gain unprecedented molecular insights into lipid transport at membrane contact sites. Specifically, by investigating in a high-throughput fashion the interactions between proteins and lipids, we are starting to unveil the molecular mechanism of lipid transport by bridge lipid transport proteins (BLTPs) of the Atg2-Vps13 family and by BLTP-interacting proteins.

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