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Giant unilamellar vesicles - a perfect tool to visualize phase separation and lipid rafts in model systems

100%

Wesołowska O., Michalak K., Maniewska J., Hendrich A. B.

issue 1

33-39

Model systems such as black lipid membranes or conventional uni- or multilamellar liposomes are commonly used to study membrane properties and structure. However, the construction and dimensions of these models excluded their direct optical microscopic observation. Since the introduction of the simple method of liposome electroformation in alternating electric field giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) have become an important model imitating biological membranes. Due to the average diameter of GUVs reaching up to 100 µm, they can be easily observed under a fluorescent or confocal microscope provided that the appropriate fluorescent probe was incorporated into the lipid phase during vesicle formation. GUVs can be formed from different lipid mixtures and they are stable in a wide range of physical conditions such as pH, pressure or temperature. This mini-review presents information about the methods of GUV production and their usage. Particularly, the use of GUVs in studying lipid phase separation and the appearance and behavior of lipid domains (rafts) in membranes is discussed but also other examples of GUVs use in membrane research are given. The experience of the authors in setting up the GUV-forming equipment and production of GUVs is also presented.

Plasma membrane rafts and chaperones in cytokine/ STAT signaling.

75%

Sehgal P. B.

2003

vol. 50

issue 3

583-594

We and others have recently obtained data suggesting that cytokine-STAT signaling in many different cell-types is a chaperoned pathway initiated at the level of specialized plasma membrane microdomains called "rafts" (the "raft-STAT signaling hypothesis"). These findings are of broad significance in that all cytokines and growth factors initiate signaling in target cells by interacting with respective cell-surface receptors. The new data suggest that raft microdomains represent the units of function at the cell-surface through which ligand-stimulated STAT signaling is initiated. Moreover, recent evidence shows the involvement of chaperone proteins in regulating the STAT signaling pathway. These chaperones include the human homolog of the tumorous imaginal disc 1 protein (hTid1) which associates with Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) at the level of the plasma membrane, heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) which associates with STAT3 and STAT1 proteins in caveolin-1-containing raft and cytoplasmic complexes, and glucose regulated protein 58 (GRP58/ER-60/ERp57), a thiol dependent protein-disulfide isomerase, found in association with STAT3 "statosome" complexes in the cytosol and in the raft fraction. We suggest a function of the HSP90 chaperone system in preserving IL-6/STAT3 signaling in liver cells in the context of fever. The identification and function of protein partners associated with specific STAT species in rafts and in cytosolic complexes, and in the efficient departure of cytokine-activated STATs from the cytosolic face of rafts towards the cell nucleus are now areas of active investigation.

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2 Acta Biochimica Polonica

1 2009

1 2003

1 Hendrich A. B.

1 Maniewska J.

1 Michalak K.

1 Sehgal P. B.

1 Wesołowska O.

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Giant unilamellar vesicles - a perfect tool to visualize phase separation and lipid rafts in model systems

Plasma membrane rafts and chaperones in cytokine/ STAT signaling.