How lipid supply supports membrane growth
Where does the material for expanding a new membrane come from?
How it works
Growing a new membrane requires a supply of lipids, the molecules that make up its basic material. Without enough lipids, a membrane cannot expand. We study how the rate of delivery relates to changes in membrane shape.
As a membrane grows, its surface area, curvature and opening can all change. But some shapes cost more energy than others. To understand growth, we need to consider both how quickly new material arrives and how the membrane responds to that material.
During autophagosome formation, elongated proteins such as Atg2 are thought to carry lipids from a neighboring membrane to the growing structure. Our goal is to connect molecular-level transport with the larger-scale changes in membrane shape.
What we want to learn next
Ongoing research / hypothesisWe aim to model lipid delivery, membrane expansion and opening size together. Directly linking measured transport rates to shape changes in the same growing membrane still requires further testing.
Related publications & press releases
Three-dimensional measurements and physical modeling reveal characteristic shapes formed as autophagosomes grow.
The preprint investigates how phosphorylation regulates the movement of lipids through a membrane-bridging protein.