Title: Micron scale patterning of the fluid phospholipid bilayer: Mechanisms and Clinical Implications

Speaker: George Vann Bennett, M.D., Ph.D. ( George Barth Geller Professor, Duke University Medical Center, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute )

Time: June 7 2013 (Fri) 10:00-11:00

Venue: The philosophy building, room 103

Host: Yan Zhang

Abstract：

Biological membranes have evolved mechanisms for organization of ion transporters and other membrane-spanning proteins into functional microdomains, even though their phospholipid bilayers are fluid with a viscosity of a light olive oil.  These membrane domains are responsible for much of vertebrate physiology and are of considerable clinical importance.  The seminar today will discuss the discovery of ankyrin adaptors and their functions in coordinating diverse membrane-spanning proteins and coupling these proteins to a spectrin lattice on the cytoplasmic surface of the plasma membrane.  Ankyrin/spectrin-based domains include excitable membranes in the nervous system and heart, lateral membranes of epithelial cells, inner and outer segments of photoreceptors, and costameres of striated muscle.  A simple mechanism for facile acquisition of ankyrin-binding activity will be presented that can explain the diverse nature and recent evolution of ankyrin-binding partners. New data will also be presented showing that ankyrin is not just a static scaffolding protein but exhibits dynamic interactions with its partners, interacts with the membrane through palmitoylation,  and participates as an adaptor for the dynactin complex to promote directed intracellular transport of membrane proteins.