Structure and function of ER membrane contact sites with other organelles

By M. J. Phillips, G. Voeltz. Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology, 2015

852 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the largest organelle in the cell, and its functions have been studied for decades. The past several years have provided novel insights into the existence of distinct domains between the ER and other organelles, known as membrane contact sites (MCSs). At these contact sites, organelle membranes are closely apposed and tethered, but do not fuse. Here, various protein complexes can work in concert to perform specialized functions such as binding, sensing and transferring molecules, as well as engaging in organelle biogenesis and dynamics. This Review describes the structure and functions of MCSs, primarily focusing on contacts of the ER with mitochondria and endosomes.

Subfields: Cell Biology, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cd812913abeb3a60bd5383dab2ba211e47ad6c9d

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In Molecular Biology

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Citations in the corpus

• Polyploidy, the Nucleotype, and Novelty: The Impact of Genome Doubling on the Biology of the Cell (2019, background): “The balance between the two forms is likely to have functional consequences on translation (Phillips and Voeltz 2016).”
• Emerging functions of the EGFR in cancer (2017, background): “Communication occurs through so-called contact sites: regions of juxtaposition (≤ 20 nm) between two heterologous membranes, tethered by in trans protein–protein interactions (Eisenberg-Bord et al., 2016; Phillips and Voeltz, 2016).”
• Mitochondria-lysosome contacts regulate mitochondrial fission via Rab7 GTP hydrolysis (2018, neutral): “1a–c, yellow arrows) with an average distance between membranes of 9.57 ± 0.76 nm consistent with other contact sites 21,22 , and contact length of 198.33 ± 16.73 nm (n = 55 contacts from 20 cells) (Fig.”