A Research Seminar: Unveiling membrane remodeling processes using single-molecule mechanical methods
June 13th
Seminar Room & Zoom
11:30
Prof. Raya Sorkin from the School of Chemistry at Tel Aviv University group
Unveiling Membrane Remodelling Processes using singlemolecule
mechanical methods
Abstract: Migrasomes are a recently discovered type of extra-cellular vesicles
generated from retraction fibers during cell migration on extra-cellular substrates.
These vesicles, of several microns in size, allow cells to release contents at specific
locations, which can be taken up by other cells which travel to that site. Evidence
recently emerged showing that migrasomes play essential roles in fundamental
cellular processes such as lateral transfer of mRNA and proteins and transport of
damaged mitochondria, and it was demonstrated that they coordinate organ
morphogenesis in zebrafish. Thus, it is of great interest to understand the mechanism
underlying migrasome biogenesis. I will show how we combine micropipette
aspiration, dual trap optical tweezers and confocal fluorescence microscopy to reveal
the physico-chemical foundations of migrasome formation, by recreating the
conditions leading to migrasome-like vesicle generation in our in-vitro model system,
and validating our findings in cell cultures. We show that tetraspanin proteins involved
in migrasome formation strongly partition into curved membrane tethers, and we
reveal a novel, two-step migrasome formation process where the first stage of
migrasome formation is tetraspanin independent and the second stage that leads to
its stabilization is driven by tetraspanin. Overall, our findings illuminate the process
of migrasome formation and provide insight into the role of tetraspanin proteins in
membrane remodelling processes.