ArticlePLoS biology2017
The in vivo structure of biological membranes and evidence for lipid domains.
Article in PLoS biology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed.
- Physiological Roles of Carbonic Anhydrases and an MpsAB-like Bicarbonate Transporter inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
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- Visualizing dynamics of membrane rafts on live cells.Science advances · 2025Article
- Enhanced estimation method for partial scattering functions in contrast variation small-angle neutron scattering via Gaussian process regression with prior knowledge of smoothness.Journal of applied crystallography · 2025Article
- Mycoidesin, a novel lantibiotic, exhibits potent bacteriostatic activity againstApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Error evaluation of partial scattering functions obtained from contrast-variation small-angle neutron scattering.Journal of applied crystallography · 2025Article
- Toxic Effects of Butanol in the Plane of the Cell Membrane.Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids · 2025Article
- Article
- Flotillin-mediated stabilization of unfolded proteins in bacterial membrane microdomains.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Macromolecular Crowding, Phase Separation, and Homeostasis in the Orchestration of Bacterial Cellular Functions.Chemical reviews · 2024Review
- The Membrane-Mediated Interaction of Liquid-Ordered Lipid Domains in the Presence of Amphipathic Peptides.Membranes · 2023Article
- Micro-Executor of Natural Products in Metabolic Diseases.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Biophysical studies of lipid nanodomains using different physical characterization techniques.Biophysical journal · 2023Review
- Detergent-Resistant Membranes in Chloroplasts and Mitochondria of the HalophytePlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Article
- Small-Angle Neutron Scattering for Studying Lipid Bilayer Membranes.Biomolecules · 2022Review
- Membranes under the Magnetic Lens: A Dive into the Diverse World of Membrane Protein Structures Using Cryo-EM.Chemical reviews · 2022Review
- Mycobacterial resistance to zinc poisoning requires assembly of P-ATPase-containing membrane metal efflux platforms.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Small-angle neutron scattering contrast variation studies of biological complexes: Challenges and triumphs.Current opinion in structural biology · 2022Review
- Absorption of the [bmim][Cl] Ionic Liquid in DMPC Lipid Bilayers across Their Gel, Ripple, and Fluid Phases.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Examining the fundamental structure and processes of living cells at the nanoscale poses a unique analytical challenge, as cells are dynamic, chemically diverse, and fragile. A case in point is the cell membrane, which is too small to be seen directly with optical microscopy and provides little observational contrast for other methods. As a consequence, nanoscale characterization of the membrane has been performed ex vivo or in the presence of exogenous labels used to enhance contrast and impart specificity. Here, we introduce an isotopic labeling strategy in the gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis to investigate the nanoscale structure and organization of its plasma membrane in vivo. Through genetic and chemical manipulation of the organism, we labeled the cell and its membrane independently with specific amounts of hydrogen (H) and deuterium (D). These isotopes have different neutron scattering properties without altering the chemical composition of the cells. From neutron scattering spectra, we confirmed that the B. subtilis cell membrane is lamellar and determined that its average hydrophobic thickness is 24.3 ± 0.9 Ångstroms (Å). Furthermore, by creating neutron contrast within the plane of the membrane using a mixture of H- and D-fatty acids, we detected lateral features smaller than 40 nm that are consistent with the notion of lipid rafts. These experiments-performed under biologically relevant conditions-answer long-standing questions in membrane biology and illustrate a fundamentally new approach for systematic in vivo investigations of cell membrane structure.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.