Recent Advances in Lipid Membranes
A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Biological Membrane Functions".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 5283
Special Issue Editors
Interests: membrane-lipid therapy; cell biology; biophysics; neuro-metabolic disorders; intracellular traficking
Interests: biophysics; computational biology; molecular dynamics simulations; membrane proteins; ion transporters and channels; phospholipid scramblases; lipid-protein interactions; small ligand and protein interactions; free energy calculations
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cell membranes have long been considered as more than mere demarcations of cell boundaries. In the last several decades, cell membranes have been demonstrated to be the key mediators of cells’ communication with their environment. Membranes of intracellular compartments have also been thoroughly investigated, and their role in controlling cell fate and cell function is now well-documented.
These functions of cell membranes can only be implemented via their interactions with proteins, often amphitropic peripheral proteins, which can relay signals received at the site of the membrane. A representative example is signals which are relayed into the cell by membrane-anchored and receptor-interacting small G proteins, which activate second messengers such as cAMP or calcium ions. The interactions of proteins with membranes can be mediated by covalent modifications such as lipidation (e.g., C-terminal isoprenylation or N-terminal myristoylation), as in the case of Ras, or by hydrophobic interactions with membrane lipids, as in the case of phospholipase Cβ. Thus, the interaction of membranes with cellular proteins depends on lipid composition and biophysical traits on the membrane side and on different modifications on the protein side.
The translocation of proteins to and from membranes, or “lipid switches”, has significant implications for cell function and cell fate. For instance, the ability of Ras to transform cells is dependent on its translocation to the plasma membrane and pursuant activation of oncogenic signaling. These lipid switches form the conceptual basis of a new therapeutic modality—membrane lipid therapy. This modality is based on the notion that signal transduction and cellular fate can be relatively readily modulated by imposed changes of the composition, structure, and biophysics of cell membranes, often through the administration of synthetic lipids with well-characterized biophysical and chemical effects on cell membranes.
This Special Issue invites contributions (original research manuscripts, reports, and reviews) related to the interaction of proteins with different cellular membranes. We will be looking for original work, mostly in the fields of cell biology, biophysics, molecular and computational biology, which will contribute to our understanding of how specific interactions between cell membranes and proteins can modulate cell fate and cell functions. In particular, we welcome manuscripts which stress the therapeutic potential of such interactions and which will thus promote the concept of membrane-lipid therapy.
Dr. Or Kakhlon
Dr. Tao Jiang
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Cell membranes
- Lipid Membranes
- Protein–Membrane Interactions
- Cell biology
- Biophysics
- Molecular and computational biology
- Membrane lipid therapy
