Protein dynamics electron microscopy

While the fluid mosaic model of membrane stmcture has stood up well to detailed scrutiny, additional features of membrane structure and function are constantly emerging. Two structures of particular current interest, located in surface membranes, are tipid rafts and caveolae. The former are dynamic areas of the exo-plasmic leaflet of the lipid bilayer enriched in cholesterol and sphingolipids they are involved in signal transduction and possibly other processes. Caveolae may derive from lipid rafts. Many if not all of them contain the protein caveolin-1, which may be involved in their formation from rafts. Caveolae are observable by electron microscopy as flask-shaped indentations of the cell membrane. Proteins detected in caveolae include various components of the signal-transduction system (eg, the insutin receptor and some G proteins), the folate receptor, and endothetial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Caveolae and lipid rafts are active areas of research, and ideas concerning them and their possible roles in various diseases are rapidly evolving. 

When microtubules were visualized by electron microscopy (EM), after the improvement of methods of fixation, it was realized that they formed the structural basis of flagellar axonemes and of so-called spindle fibers, as well as occurring as individual filaments in the cytoplasm. Their designation as part of the cytoskeleton suggested that they acted mainly as fixed structural supports. Subsequent research has focused more and more on their dynamic behavior and on their role as tracks for motor proteins, which may, for example, transport chromosomes during cell division. Microtubules are found in all eukaryotic cells and are essential for many cellular functions, such as motility, morphogenesis, intracellular transport, and cell division. It is that dynamic behavior that allows microtubules to fulfill all of these functions in specific places and at appropriate times in the cell cycle. 

Crystal structures of many NHEJ proteins have tremendously supported the discussions above. Also, electron microscopy revealed the overall shape of the large and complex DNA-PKcs structure (23). For most other domains, structural inferences can be drawn by mapping NHEJ proteins onto crystallized enzymes of the same class. However, no published structures show two DSB ends engaged together, which I argue defines the unique functions of NHEJ proteins. Similarly, poor insight exists into the intercoimected assembly of the full NHEJ repair complex. Furthermore, crystal structures are static, whereas NHEJ is dynamic with multiple different reactions. 

Electron microscopy reveals smaller features such as ribosomes (the site of protein synthesis) or centrioles (organizers of cell division), which are examples of macromolecular structures. Current research suggests that there may be many other macromolecular structures, often highly dynamic, such as assemblies of receptor protein kinases with substrates and adaptor molecules, or components of the cytoskeleton or nuclear matrix. 

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