Neuroligin-1 Oligomerization Induces Cell Morphology Changes Via Lipid Domain Nucleation

Mass spectrometry imaging of mating Tetrahymena show that changes in cell morphology regulate lipid domain formation.

Mass spectrometry imaging has been used here to suggest that changes in membrane structure drive lipid domain formation in mating single-cell organisms. Chemical studies of lipid bilayers in both living and model systems have revealed that chemical composition is coupled to localized membrane structure. However, it is not clear if the lipids that compose the membrane actively modify membrane st...

Microinjection of recombinant p21rho induces rapid changes in cell morphology

The rho proteins, p21rho, are ubiquitously expressed guanine nucleotide binding proteins with approximately 30% amino acid homology to p21ras, but their biochemical function is unknown. We show here that microinjection of constitutively activated recombinant rho protein (Val14rho) into subconfluent cells induces dramatic changes in cell morphology: 15-30 min after injection cells adopt a distin...

Phosphoinositide-mediated oligomerization of a defensin induces cell lysis

Cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAPs) such as defensins are ubiquitously found innate immune molecules that often exhibit broad activity against microbial pathogens and mammalian tumor cells. Many CAPs act at the plasma membrane of cells leading to membrane destabilization and permeabilization. In this study, we describe a novel cell lysis mechanism for fungal and tumor cells by the plant defe...

Nucleotide-Binding Oligomerization Domain

Neurexin–Neuroligin 1 regulates synaptic morphology and functions via the WAVE regulatory complex in Drosophila neuromuscular junction

Neuroligins are postsynaptic adhesion molecules that are essential for postsynaptic specialization and synaptic function. But the underlying molecular mechanisms of neuroligin functions remain unclear. We found that Drosophila Neuroligin 1 (DNlg1) regulates synaptic structure and function through WAVE regulatory complex (WRC)-mediated postsynaptic actin reorganization. The disruption of DNlg1, ...