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Molecular Organization and Signal Transduction at Intermembrane Junctions
Author(s) -
Groves Jay T.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.200461014
Subject(s) - flexibility (engineering) , nanotechnology , membrane , biophysics , surface (topology) , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , materials science , biology , biochemistry , statistics , mathematics , geometry
Abstract Surfaces create an environment in which multiple forces conspire together to yield a wealth of complex chemical processes. This is especially true of cell membranes, whose fluidity and flexibility enables responsive feedback with surface chemical interactions in ways not generally seen with inorganic materials. Spatial pattern formation of cell‐surface proteins at intermembrane junctions provides many beautiful examples of these phenomena, and is also emerging as a functional aspect of intercellular signaling. Correspondingly, the study of interactions of cell‐membrane surfaces is attracting significant attention from cell biologists and physical chemists alike. This convergence is fueled be recent, exquisite observations of protein pattern formation events within living immunological synapses along with parallel advances in membrane reconstitution, manipulation, and imaging technologies.