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SFB 1638:  Cellular membrane remodelling – how changing form creates function

Subject Area Biology
Term since 2024
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 511488495
 
Membranes are fundamental for the generation of complex cellular architectures, as shown in the compartmentalization of eukaryotic cells. Biological membranes are highly dynamic structures with an adaptable composition of lipids and proteins, and membrane remodelling, the process of changing the composition or configuration of biological membranes, generates cell architecture and governs cell physiology. Every cellular membrane is subject to remodelling and the vast variety of different membrane configurations are tightly linked to a biological function. Not surprisingly, many different processes have been described, in which cells remodel their membranes. The molecular mechanisms, however, of most membrane remodelling processes are only partially understood or still entirely unknown. The overarching general principles of membrane remodelling are yet to be established and a comprehensive framework of how cells use these common principles to generate specific functions is missing. With this CRC we will address this gap in our knowledge from a conceptual point of view. We propose that four fundamental types of membrane remodelling underlie the large biological diversity: transverse and lateral segregation, as well as morphological and topological transformation. A major focus of this CRC is to proof the hypothesis that cells couple the four basic types of membrane remodelling in a modular manner, and that this coupling yields directional sequences of remodelling events that generate specific biological functions. Specifically, our goals are to identify remodelling pathways and the components involved, elucidate the molecular mechanisms of cellular membrane remodelling events, establish how individual membrane remodelling events are coupled and understand how a series of coupled membrane remodelling events work cooperatively, leading to functional switches. To achieve these aims, we have assembled projects that examine a broad range of biological processes that crucially depend on membrane remodelling events and that take place at different cellular membranes. The investigated processes are currently understood at different levels. Our projects range from the identification of pathways and the defining of the molecular players involved in certain membrane-based processes to reaching an understanding of membrane remodelling events at atomic resolution. Our program will be guided by one common goal: to define the universal logic of the coupling of membrane remodelling events. In the long run, we will show that our understanding is robust enough to reconstitute many of the investigated processes with purified components. By re-building these pathways and manipulating them with newly developed tool compounds we will open new routes to influence biological processes under physiological and pathological conditions.
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Participating University Hochschule Mannheim
 
 

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