University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Molecular Movies Reveal Cellular Gatekeeping of Water Transport Influenced by Plasma Membrane Complexity

Nguyen, Anh

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114200

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Title
Molecular Movies Reveal Cellular Gatekeeping of Water Transport Influenced by Plasma Membrane Complexity
Author(s)
Nguyen, Anh
Contributor(s)
Shukla, Diwakar
Issue Date
2022
Keyword(s)
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Date of Ingest
2022-06-01T16:50:49Z
Abstract
Cells were first observed with a compound microscope in the 17th century. Today, research concerning cells components and activities has continued to make great strides in science. In particular, the plasma membrane - with the compositional diversity and adaptive nature of its lipid composition - remains critical to understanding cellular functions. What happens between these lipids, proteins, and transmembrane-crossing cellular cargo they handle, occurs on the pico- to nano-second timescale. Unlike our 17th century contemporaries, we can now track every atomistic detail of these lipid interactions. Here, we utilize molecular dynamics simulations, a computational microscope, to observe how varying lipid compositions of cellular membranes affects the critical process of water transport in living cells. Simulations produce a “movie” of the system to reveal the movements of each molecule over time. This illustration showcases a hypothetical membrane bilayer containing two conformations of an aquaporin protein as two frames in a billion-frame simulation production. The findings from this work not only enhance our understanding of aquaporin water transport mechanisms in different environments but also contribute perspective as to how lipid chemical diversity universally affects general membrane protein function. If lipids impact something as simple as water transport, imagine what else they regulate!
Type of Resource
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Language
eng
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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/114200
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2022 Anh Nguyen

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