Shapes of discoid intracellular compartments with small relative volumes.

ABSTRACT: A prominent feature of many intracellular compartments is a large membrane surface area relative to their luminal volume, i.e., the small relative volume. In this study we present a theoretical analysis of discoid membrane compartments with a small relative volume and then compare the theoretical results to quantitative morphological assessment of fusiform vesicles in urinary bladder umbrella cells. Specifically, we employ three established extensions of the standard approach to lipid membrane shape calculation and determine the shapes that could be expected according to three scenarios of membrane shaping: membrane adhesion in the central discoid part, curvature driven lateral segregation of membrane constituents, and existence of stiffer membrane regions, e.g., support by protein scaffol

SUBMITTER: Derganc J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3221666 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature