From entangled membranes to eclectic morphologies: cubic membranes as subcellular space organizers

Landh, Tomas

doi:10.1016/0014-5793(95)00660-2

Cited by 198 publications

(163 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…Snapp and coworkers [46••] introduced the term OSER (organized smooth ER) to describe all of these different types of stacked smooth ER (illustrated in Figure 1). A fascinating observation is that the structure of sinusoidal ER with cubic symmetry (cubic membranes) corresponds to mathematically described minimal periodic surfaces [47], built of repetitions of saddle-shaped elements. Although such surfaces are highly curved, they in fact have a mean mathematical curvature of zero, because at every point convexity and concavity exactly compensate for each other [48].…”

Section: Smooth Ermentioning

confidence: 99%

Endoplasmic reticulum architecture: structures in flux

Borgese

Francolini

Snapp

2006

Current Opinion in Cell Biology

201

147

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The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a dynamic pleiomorphic organelle containing continuous but distinct subdomains. The diversity of ER structures parallels its many functions, including secretory protein biogenesis, lipid synthesis, drug metabolism and Ca 2+ signaling. Recent studies are revealing how elaborate ER structures arise in response to subtle changes in protein levels, dynamics, and interactions as well as in response to alterations in cytosolic ion concentrations. Subdomain formation appears to be governed by principles of self-organization. Once formed, ER subdomains remain malleable and can be rapidly transformed into alternative structures in response to altered conditions. The mechanisms that modulate ER structure are likely to be important for the generation of the characteristic shapes of other organelles.

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Section: Smooth Ermentioning

confidence: 99%

Endoplasmic reticulum architecture: structures in flux

Borgese

Francolini

Snapp

2006

Current Opinion in Cell Biology

201

147

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“…in Refs. [12,36]). However, it is well known that their properties can differ considerably from those of real TPMS [37].…”

Section: Fourier Ansatzmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic approach to bicontinuous cubic phases in ternary amphiphilic systems

1999

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The Fourier approach and theories of space groups and color symmetries are used to systematically generate and compare bicontinuous cubic structures in the framework of a Ginzburg-Landau model for ternary amphiphilic systems. Both single and double structures are investigated; they correspond to systems with one or two monolayers in a unit cell, respectively. We show how and why single structures can be made to approach triply periodic minimal surfaces very closely, and give improved nodal approximations for G, D, I-WP and P surfaces. We demonstrate that the relative stability of the single structures can be calculated from the geometrical properties of their interfaces only. The single gyroid G turns out to be the most stable bicontinuous cubic phase since it has the smallest porosity. The representations are used to calculate distributions of the Gaussian curvature and 2 H-NMR bandshapes for C(P), C(D), S, C(Y) and F-RD surfaces.

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“…Molecular surfactants, comprising chemically linked hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups, are of central importance in biology and industry, able to form a plethora of phases in water or mixtures of water and oily liquids. These phases include micelles [12], bilayers and vesicles, as well as numerous bicontinous phases [13] that serve as internal cellular packaging [14] and are the bane of many a plumber.Here we ask: What might self-assemble in aqueous solution from amphiphilic, peanutshaped colloidal nanoparticles? Such particles can now be prepared in large quantities, starting from spherical, crosslinked polystyrene 'seed' particles of radius ∼ 50 nm.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-assembly of amphiphilic peanut-shaped nanoparticles

Whitelam

Bon

2010

The Journal of Chemical Physics

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We use computer simulation to investigate the self-assembly of Janus-like amphiphilic peanut-shaped nanoparticles, finding phases of clusters, bilayers and micelles in accord with ideas of packing familiar from the study of molecular surfactants.However, packing arguments do not explain the hierarchical self-assembly dynamics that we observe, nor the coexistence of bilayers and faceted polyhedra. This coexistence suggests that experimental realizations of our model can achieve multipotent assembly of either of two competing ordered structures.Components are said to 'self-assemble' when they organize to form stable patterns or aggregates without external direction. Self-assembly is driven by interactions as different as weak covalent bonds and capillary forces, involves components ranging in size from Angströms to centimeters, and occurs both in inorganic settings and in living organisms [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Mimicry of the self-assembly seen in the natural world promises the development of new, functional materials patterned on the nanometer scale [10,11]. In pursuit of this goal, we take inspiration from the self-assembly of molecular surfactants to investigate using computer simulation the behavior of a simple model of their colloidal counterparts. Molecular surfactants, comprising chemically linked hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups, are of central importance in biology and industry, able to form a plethora of phases in water or mixtures of water and oily liquids. These phases include micelles [12], bilayers and vesicles, as well as numerous bicontinous phases [13] that serve as internal cellular packaging [14] and are the bane of many a plumber.Here we ask: What might self-assemble in aqueous solution from amphiphilic, peanutshaped colloidal nanoparticles? Such particles can now be prepared in large quantities, starting from spherical, crosslinked polystyrene 'seed' particles of radius ∼ 50 nm. Mixing these seeds with styrene initiates monomer-polymer phase separation and creates particles with a peanut-like shape characterized by two fused spherical lobes of controllable relative size. Additional treatment of the seed particle renders peanuts amphiphilic, with one lobe hydrophobic and the other hydrophilic [15][16][17]; the resulting body can be regarded as a generalized Janus particle [18]. (We note that colloidal silica dumbbells can be synthesized by other routes [19], and that micrometer-scale peanuts show potential as Pickering stabilizers of * swhitelam@lbl.gov arXiv:0907.3227v2 [cond-mat.soft] 19 Feb 2010 2 oil-in-water emulsions [20].) In an attempt to answer our posed question we have constructed a model of interacting peanuts whose minimal character is motivated by the insight into self-assembly afforded by similarly simple model systems [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. Our model can be evolved with computational efficiency sufficient to allow observation of collective, thermally-driven dynamics on timescales of seconds. Its construction rests up...

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From entangled membranes to eclectic morphologies: cubic membranes as subcellular space organizers

Cited by 198 publications

References 12 publications

Endoplasmic reticulum architecture: structures in flux

Endoplasmic reticulum architecture: structures in flux

Systematic approach to bicontinuous cubic phases in ternary amphiphilic systems

Self-assembly of amphiphilic peanut-shaped nanoparticles

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