Amphipathic helices and membrane curvature.

Guillaume Drin (1) , Bruno Antonny (1)

1 IPMC - Institut de pharmacologie moléculaire et cellulaire

Numerous data have been collected on lipid-binding amphipathic helices involved in membrane-remodeling machineries and vesicular transport. Here we describe how, with regard to lipid composition, the physicochemical features of some amphipathic helices explain their ability to recognize membrane curvature or to participate in membrane remodeling. We propose that sensing highly-curved membranes requires that the polar and hydrophobic faces of the helix do not cooperate in lipid binding. A more detailed description of the interaction between amphipathic helices and lipids is however needed; notably to explain how new helices contribute to detection of modest changes in curvature or even negative curvature.

Mots clés: Membrane curvature; Amphipathic helix; Vesicular transport; Protein–lip id interaction; Lipid packing

Domaines: Biochimie, Biologie Moléculaire

Guillaume Drin, Bruno Antonny. Amphipathic helices and membrane curvature.. FEBS Letters, 2010, 584 (9), pp.1840-7. ⟨10.1016/j.febslet.2009.10.022⟩. ⟨hal-00497640⟩