The ultrastructural organization of endoplasmic reticulum-plasma membrane contacts is conserved in epithelial cells.

ABSTRACT: Contacts between the endoplasmic reticulum and the plasma membrane (ER-PM contacts) have important roles in membrane lipid and calcium dynamics, yet their organization in polarized epithelial cells has not been thoroughly described. Here we examine ER-PM contacts in hepatocytes in mouse liver using electron microscopy, providing the first comprehensive ultrastructural study of ER-PM contacts in a mammalian epithelial tissue. Our quantitative analyses reveal strikingly distinct ER-PM contact architectures spatially linked to apical, lateral, and basal PM domains. Notably, we find that an extensive network of ER-PM contacts exists at lateral PM domains that form intercellular junctions between hepatocytes. Moreover, the spatial organization of ER-PM contacts is conserved in epithelial sphero

SUBMITTER: Chung GHC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9635291 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature